Two things that don't belong in a Saw movie? Chris Rock and rap/hip-hop music. This movie has pacing issues, an over-reliance on jump cuts that are mistaken for being stylish, poor casting choices and a lack of any redeeming characters. You know what you're getting with a Saw movie (even the 'bad' ones), but at least the meta-narrative is fairly consistent. This movie wants to be much more than it is and it doesn't work. It's like taking "Se7en" and adding pratfalls to the mix.
And it has that wonderful murky yellowish-orange color palette for the scenes that aren't already poorly lit. As formulaic, maybe pretentious as the other films were, they still had more to offer than an obvious live/die red herring. They could have just saved the money that they paid Chris Rock and the other planks of wood in this movie, resurrected any one of the past survivors in the franchise and paid Tobin Bell to do some voiceovers.
And it has that wonderful murky yellowish-orange color palette for the scenes that aren't already poorly lit. As formulaic, maybe pretentious as the other films were, they still had more to offer than an obvious live/die red herring. They could have just saved the money that they paid Chris Rock and the other planks of wood in this movie, resurrected any one of the past survivors in the franchise and paid Tobin Bell to do some voiceovers.