Opened: October 24, 2008

Directed by: David Hackl

Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Julie Benz, Meagan Good, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon, Joris Jarsky, Mike Butters, Al Sapienza, Mike Realba, Jeff Pustil, Dana Sorman, Stephanie Shah, Samantha Lemole, Lyriq Bent, Athena Karkanis, Justin Louis, Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Glover, Shawnee Smith, Bahar Soomekh, Niamh Wilson, Angus Macfadyen, Tony Nappo, Tim Burd & Sarah Power

With a new director, some new life is breathed into the Saw series, though it still doesn’t do enough to make it last.

Now that John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is dead, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) becomes his successor and starts building out his own traps. FBI Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) continues to hunt down Hoffman knowing the truth.

The game played in this one by the supporting characters is more interesting than those in the previous two films, but the issue is the lack of character development. You don’t care that these characters are dying; you just want to see how the die.

Hoffman is an overrated character and a bit of a stretch for an accomplice and Mandylor doesn’t do anything to make his character endearing.

Final say: One cut too many. ★★☆☆☆