Jesus Harold Christ, it’s been ages since I reviewed any movies whatsoever. Well, here’s hoping my reviewing skills are up to par.

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, SO IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, DO NOT READ!!!***

It’s hard to believe I’ve now seen every single Saw movie. What can I say? Although the movies don’t have the greatest stories or the best acting (excluding Tobin Bell, who has helped create a now iconic movie character), the main hook for all of the Saw movies is the traps. The movie’s likely to suck, but one is still curious to see what new ways the filmmakers have come up with to kill people.

The previous film left a glimmer of hope for quality in this, the final Saw film, Saw 3D. One of the story arcs was actually interesting, the traps were much more creative and sinister, and the aforementioned story arc had a great conclusion. So, one had every excuse to hope the ante would be majorly upped for this movie. Truthfully, however, they only raised it slightly above Saw V (which sucked) and way below Saw VI. In other words, it’s another mediocre Saw film.

The film does have its moments, including the opening which involves a cheating girlfriend in a trap with her lovers, and a great trap involving decibel levels, spikes, and a fishhook. But really, that’s about it. None of the characters and none of their story arcs are interesting, the other traps are weak, and the acting is just a notch above garbage. The 3D was pretty decent, but they didn’t really do much with it; one could go see this in 2D and get basically the same film.

Now we come to probably the biggest hook this film, which also happens to be its biggest flaw: the ending. Just as the traps have become a staple of the Saw series, so has the twist ending. It seems that the filmmakers have given up building any suspense for this film’s ending because they pretty much hand it to you on a silver platter. In the beginning of the film, you see the doctor who cut his foot off from the first film crawling out of the room he was trapped in; then, you see him again later in a meeting of Jigsaw survivors, speaking to them in a deep, menacing voice. Do the math.

Turns out, yes, he was Jigsaw’s accomplice since the very beginning. No fucking shit. Don’t get me wrong: I think the twist provided satisfying conclusion to this mediocre film series, but I just don’t like how they totally give it away in the beginning. It makes the rest of the film a waiting game, just like Seven Pounds.

OVERALL: Well, this is it: no more Saw movies. It was a run, that’s all I can say. As far as this film goes, as I stated before, it’s not as bad as Saw V, but it’s not that much better. If you’re like me and have seen all the Saw films but this one, I say check it out, get it out of your system. Otherwise, you’d best skip this one.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5