Working in the shadow of his father, Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks and his rookie partner take charge of an investigation into grisly murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city's gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer's morbid game.
Being introduced to the Saw franchise at around the Saw II mark during my early teens, and loving the building drama network of damaged characters and excessive gore of every subsequent film afterwards, there is no doubt that the premise and ingenuity behind the franchise had great appeal. Despite its middling to poor reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, John Kramer has without a shadow of a doubt left his mark on the horror community as the fifth-highest-grossing horror franchise in the US and Canada. It is why I was saddened when the franchise was cut short after the seventh film, Saw 3D, why I was overjoyed at the reboot seven years later, and why I was curious to see what Chris Rock would do with the series a further 4 years on.
In terms of the gore factor, Spiral fails to meet the mark. While there are more than a few horrendously gory scenes involving bulky mechanical contraptions, the editing from Dev Singh leaves a lot to be desired. Constant quick cuts attempt to create a sense of rising panic and a ticking clock but instead leave the audience unable to properly evaluate the threat. The sense of tension and unease that comes from languishing in the hopelessness of the situation before the crunch is what sells the whole sequence, but whether it be the editing or Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger's script, every violent scene feels skipped over (and some of them literally are).
Don't get me wrong, there are some visuals that will make you squirm, but they are so few and far between, that it starts to feel more like an episode of True Detective rather than a member of the Saw family.
Aside from the gore, there is the story element; the mystery of who the killer is, how he is catching his victims, and how they all connect together... there is more depth in a toddler's swimming pool. Spiral is another example of treating the audience like children and walking them through everything. single. clue. multiple. times. There is no sense of mystery. It takes little thought to figure it out in the first 30 minutes, and then you have another hour of the film repeating itself as it tries to get every single person in the theatre to figure it out before the reveal. It's backwards and it reeks of a script that should have had a few more revisions.
Ignoring all of that, the biggest failure of the film is in its choice of protagonist. Chris Rock (irritating voice aside) plays an oxymoronic detective whose entire personality sheet is somehow concurrently made up of "clean cop" and "always breaks the rules". Worst of all, throughout the entire film, he is a passive character. That is to say, he is led to every single destination, and every decision is made for him, for the entire 90+ minute run-time. He makes no real choices, and nothing he does has any effect on the storyline. We aren't watching Chris Rock in a film. We are watching Chris Rock watch a film. And that grows weary reasonably quickly.
From a cinematography standpoint, the film has some amazing high-definition clarity, but it comes at the expense of having a lot of unfocused blur work to compare it to. This is not a film that you would want to see in IMAX, VMAX, Xtreme Screen or Titan XL unless you really want to leave the theatre with a migraine. The blur is more than frequent, and with the number of quick edits and movements, it becomes quite the overload on such a large screen. On a normal theatre screening, however, this would be ideal. The set design, costuming, and lighting work really well to bring a slightly dated look to the film; not quite The Blues Brother era, but on that crossover between the last guard and modern policery, allowing for a mix of old school muscle cars with modern technology.
Everything effectively cancels itself out, which is why expectations need to be lowered prior to viewing. The thrilling opening sequence sets a standard that the film never manages to hit again. The gory scenes get sidelined for a basic revenge plot that is over-explained and then goes on too long past its use. The impact of the blood and violence is lost by the quick cuts and fast pace. It all culminates in a final act that leaves you unsatisfied.
There was potential, and still could be potential for success if the twist is properly catered for in its inevitable sequel. We need non-descript clues that we miss because of the gore and the tense scenes. We need protagonists who are actively hunting and investigating these murders in their own right. And, by golly, we need to see every excruciatingly depraved and explicit detail.
In the end, I'm not angry at you, Spiral.
I'm just disappointed.
Spiral is in cinemas from May 13, 2021