Chris Rock steps out of his comfort zone in Spiral: From The Book of Saw (Picture: Lionsgate)
If you’re of the belief that the Saw franchise was well past its sell-by date, then Spiral: From The Book of Saw will probably do little to convince you that there’s still steam in this train.
This latest reboot helmed by comedian Chris Rock, with support from Samuel L Jackson, is absolutely flawed but it’s not a complete write-off.
Spiral puts an end to Jigsaw’s sick games with Tobin Bell’s iconic serial killer getting, well, killed off several Saws ago. However, there’s a new copycat in town with Spiral picking up the baton to inflict pain and torture on another unfortunate group.
This group happens to be a set of police officers at the precinct where Rock’s Detective Zeke Banks is both head honcho and villain. Zeke is, ironically, already a tortured soul with a history of exposing corrupt police officers, which surprisingly doesn’t make him popular in a station full of corrupt police officers.
With this, it immediately feels like there’s a chunk of story to sink our teeth into compared to past Saw installments where the back story has pretty much extended no further than guessing how the people caught in the traps are connected.
Spiral spends a lot of time warming us up to Zeke and fleshing him out and, while initially this seems great, it gradually begins to feel like we’re watching an episode of NCIS with the occasional moment of horror thrown in.
In past movies, the action has mostly centered around Jigsaw’s game and the traps, with the police arc coming secondary or, at least woven into the story a little better than Spiral manages. Unfortunately, this slows down the pace and the gaps between traps are too drawn out.