The Saw Franchise seems to be one of those film franchises that no matter how you much try and beg they just never seem to disappear from our lives. Sort of like the music of DJ Khaled, can be good, sometimes a bit annoying, yet there is always ANOTHER ONE. We return to the franchise, 4 years from the last film Jigsaw, however we switch things up a bit from its predecessors to provide audiences with a whole new perspective on the series with brand new characters and a killer that may or may not be the next jigsaw killer. Comedian Chris Rock joins the series as Detective Zeke Banks, a metro Detective who loves to work alone in the city and has a history with his department that some view as questionable to their operation. Zeke's father Marcus Banks, played by the always amazing Samuel L. Jackson, the former Chief of the police who stands by his son's decisions seems to not be able to escape the past of the Department. After a off duty detective was killed by what seems to be a copycat Jigsaw killer, all hands are on deck to find the person responsible for the constant murders of other police officers around the city, as well as figure out the possible connection to John Kramer, the former Jigsaw killer. Marcus and Zeke, along with Zeke's newest partner William, will stop at nothing and risk everything they have to make sure this killer is brought to justice, the correct way. Overall, I very much enjoyed Spiral nothing more or nothing less. If you walk into this film thinking it is gonna be the SAW and Seven had a baby then you my friend are in the wrong theater. The new fresh approach to this franchise is exactly what was needed to spice things up and overall have it not feel such as the same movie over and over again. One of the best aspects of this film first and foremost is Chris Rock. The comedian definitely has all sorts of range from Grown Ups to Top Five the man knows how to control a scene and find chemistry with all of his co stars. Being a fan of the series, he certainly knew where he wanted to approach the franchise for the future and you can see his style of writing and possibly improvising in some scenes that work. While very few, his scenes with Sam Jackson shine and call to question why these two do not work more often together cause frankly they make an excellent pair, so hopefully we see more of them together on screen. The cinematography of this film was surprisingly quite excellent. There were few long takes that build up some key character developments that just work. It feels right and it feels as if the studio tried to make something with quality this time and not an out of place CSI episode. With that being said, without spoilers whatsoever, the ending was underwhelmingly plain and simple. If you are following the story well you can quickly figure out who or what is behind the cop killings. It is not painfully obvious but if your smart enough to figure it out, the journey to the end can be long. It feels as if the writers were more focusing on the motivation of the killer rather than the who, which I will admit is a great twist. However as mentioned, the ending feels so quick that it goes by so fast and all of a sudden the credits are rolling and you are both over and underwhelmed by the situation. As if Jigsaw leaves you on a trap and you are awaiting your fate while the clock is ticking down. One last notion that needs to be mention is once again the stupidity of characters in horror movies. These characters, and I will not say specifically who, are smart enough to know when to make right decisions, just little actions that make these characters simply stupid. You find yourselves yelling at the screen to make the right choice for once. But again it is not Seven, it is a SAW movie so granted I should not have expected genius background characters. Spiral simply stays on par with this spring's releases of entertaining films such as Godzilla v Kong & Mortal Kombat. The future of the franchise is bright if the studio and those in charge stick with this change in pace before they...Game Over.
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