257. Spiral - From The Book Of Saw; movie review

 

 

SPIRAL - FROM THE BOOK OF SAW

Cert 18

93 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, gore

Scene one - man faces a decision - allow an elaborate contraption to slice off his tongue or be mowed down by an underground train.

The conundrum might be one worth pondering if he had more than two minutes to resolve the dilemma.

Inevitably, there is no escape. The man is smeared into small pieces and the tongue is later delivered to the police station where he was a serving officer.

If this is already turning your stomach, I would respectfully suggest that Spiral - From The Book Of Saw is not for you.

Darren Lynn Bousman's movie stars Chris Rock as a mouthy detective who is at odds with many of his colleagues.

He is given a bit of room because his father (Samuel L. Jackson) was a respected precinct captain but still huffs and puffs when he is allocated a rookie (Max Minghella) as his new partner.

The wizened know-it-all alongside the naive but willing sidekick is the first of the many movie cliches within Spiral.

Anyway, the pair are assigned what initially appears to be the death of a homeless person in a metro tunnel.

In fact, the remains were of a police officer who was notorious for making false statements in court.

It then becomes clear that a serial killer, with a penchant for torture, is on the trail of corrupt cops.

I cannot deny the pace of Spiral - there is scarcely a pause for breath as violent deaths are punctuated by stomach-churning clues.

But its problem, aside from the gratuitous gore, is that the acting is as stiff as the screen on which I was watching the movie and the script is so hackneyed it could have come from the 1970s.

As for Rock as an honest cop with a foul mouth? A very odd choice.

Reasons to watch: If you are into torture porn

Reasons to avoid: Old concept, bad acting

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3.5/10

Did you know? According to Chris Rock, the origins of Spiral came from a chance meeting with the vice-chairman of Lionsgate, Michael Burns, at a friend's wedding in Brazil.

The final word. Darren Lynn Bousman: "Once we actually started filming, Chris was very [involved]; I’ve never worked with an actor like this, which was amazing. He would agonize the night before, over the next day’s scenes, and come out with alternatives and be like, “I just want to throw this out there, if it sticks.” Vulture

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