Working in the shadow of his legendary father, brash Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks and his rookie partner take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city's gruesome past. As the body count rises, Zeke finds himself unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery and at the center of the killer's morbid game. With a sadistic mastermind unleashing a twisted form of justice targeting corrupt police officers, Zeke must solve the puzzle before he becomes the next victim.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
May 14, 2021 |
Running time |
93 minutes |
Genre |
Horror
Mystery Thriller |
Budget |
$20,000,000 |
Box Office |
$40,618,920 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Darren Lynn Bousman |
Produced by |
Mark Burg Oren Koules |
Written by |
Josh Stolberg Peter Goldfinger |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
Jordan Oram |
Edited by |
Dev Singh |
Production Co. |
Twisted Pictures |
Distributed by |
Lionsgate |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #09 in Saw Collection
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The Plot
The Independence Day Abduction
Amidst the chaotic festivities of an Independence Day parade, Detective Marv Bozwick spots a petty thief named Benny Wrights snatching a purse. Bozwick immediately gives chase, pursuing the suspect away from the crowds and down into the dank, echoing tunnels of the city's canalization system. As he navigates the shadowy infrastructure, the detective is suddenly ambushed. A figure wearing a grotesque pig mask attacks him from the darkness, subduing him before he can react.
The Tongue Trap
Bozwick regains consciousness in a nightmarish scenario inside an active subway tunnel. He finds himself balanced precariously on a stepladder positioned directly on the train tracks. To his horror, he realizes his tongue is clamped tight within a vise-like metal contraption suspended from the tunnel ceiling. A nearby television flickers to life, playing a videotape that delivers a chilling ultimatum: he has exactly two minutes to jump off the ladder. Doing so will rip his tongue from his mouth, but staying put means certain death.
As the rumble of an approaching subway train grows louder and the lights of the locomotive pierce the darkness, Bozwick struggles desperately against the trap. Despite his frantic attempts to free himself, he cannot bring himself to commit the mutilation in time. The train barrels through the tunnel, striking the detective and killing him instantly, leaving a gruesome scene in its wake.
A New Partner and a Grim Discovery
Meanwhile, Detective Ezekiel "Zeke" Banks is deep undercover, attempting to infiltrate a drug ring. His operation is abruptly ruined when a fellow officer inadvertently exposes his identity, blowing his cover. Frustrated and angered by the botched bust and his colleagues' incompetence, Zeke returns to the precinct only to be reprimanded by Captain Angie Garza for his solo "lone wolf" tactics. Garza assigns him a new partner: Detective William Schenk, a rookie who has just joined the Metropolitan Police Department. Their introduction is cut short when a call comes in regarding a fatality in the subway tunnels.
Zeke and William arrive at the grisly crime scene to find the remains of Marv Bozwick. The brutal nature of the killing hangs heavy over the investigation as they process the evidence, unaware that this is merely the opening move of a much larger game.
The Reformer's Message
Upon returning to the station, Zeke receives a mysterious package containing a box. Inside, he finds a video recording addressed to him from the killer. The distorted voice on the tape declares an intention to "reform" the corrupt police department and provides a clue leading to the local courthouse. Zeke and William rush to the location, where they discover a second box. Inside rests Bozwick’s severed tongue and his police badge. The realization hits Zeke hard: the victim in the subway was his colleague. Given the specific, torture-based methodology of the murder, the police force begins to suspect that a copycat of the infamous Jigsaw Killer (John Kramer) is at work.
The Finger Trap
Sometime later, the killer strikes again, targeting Detective Fitch. Years prior, Fitch had murdered a man simply for insulting him during a routine stop. The killer abducts Fitch and places him in a trap located inside a water-filled basin. When Fitch wakes, he finds his fingers wired to a machine capable of ripping them off. The mechanism demands he activate the device to sever his fingers to break the circuit; failure to do so will result in electrocution as the water levels rise toward live wires.
Fitch struggles with the agony of the choice but fails to act quickly enough. The electrical current discharges into the water, killing him instantly. When his body is discovered, suspicion amongst the squad briefly turns toward Zeke. The two had a volatile history; Fitch had once ignored Zeke's urgent call for backup during an encounter with an armed criminal, an act of negligence that resulted in Zeke being shot.
Ghosts of the Past
Seeking leads, Zeke and William visit a church to interrogate Zeke’s former partner, Peter Dunleavy. Dunleavy had been discharged from the force and imprisoned after Zeke testified against him. The incident involved Dunleavy shooting a witness, Charlie Emmerson, to prevent him from testifying against another corrupt officer. Dunleavy had claimed self-defense, but Zeke knew the truth and arrested him, earning Zeke the label of a "rat" among his peers. The interrogation yields little, but the tension of past betrayals lingers.
The Butcher Shop and the Skinned Corpse
The next day, the killer sends another package to Zeke. This one contains a pig marionette, a severed piece of human skin, and a red vial labeled "Constantine Paints." Zeke recognizes the brand; the vial leads him to a local butcher shop, which was formerly a hobby store called "Constantine Trains" that he used to visit with his father, retired Police Chief Marcus Banks, during his childhood. Zeke and the officers raid the butchery, discovering a horrific scene in the back room: a skinned corpse. An audiotape found at the scene identifies the victim as Zeke’s partner, William Schenk, seemingly confirming the rookie has fallen prey to the killer.
The Hot Wax Trap
The terror infiltrates the police station itself when the killer assaults Captain Angie Garza in the precinct's cold-case room. She wakes up strapped horizontally to a table. A faucet above her face begins to drip boiling hot wax. A tape informs her that to stop the flow and survive, she must sever her own spinal cord against a sharp blade positioned beneath her neck. The pain and physical limitation prove too great; Garza cannot complete the task. The wax pours relentlessly, covering her face and suffocating her.
When Zeke discovers Angie’s body, he is devastated. He reviews the station's surveillance recordings and finds that the footage of the corridor leading to the cold-case room has been deleted. However, the server’s log-in data implicates Peter Dunleavy. Convinced his ex-partner is the mastermind, Zeke rushes back to the church to confront him but is ambushed and subdued by the pig-masked figure.
The Glass Grinder
Zeke awakens handcuffed to a pipe in a large storage hall. A hacksaw is within reach, suggesting the classic Jigsaw escape method, but Zeke spots a hairpin and cleverly uses it to pick the lock, sparing his limb. He soon discovers Peter Dunleavy chained by his arms to the ceiling, standing on a precarious wooden box. A new tape plays, confronting Zeke about Dunleavy’s corruption and offering a choice: save the man who betrayed him or let him die.
As the game begins, a machine starts firing high-velocity glass shards at Dunleavy. Zeke frantically tries to destroy the machine to free his former partner, but the barrage is too intense. Dunleavy is shredded by the glass and succumbs to his injuries, dying before Zeke can liberate him.
The Revelation
While searching for an exit, Zeke is stunned to encounter William Schenk, alive and unharmed. William reveals that he faked his own death using the skinned corpse of another victim. He unmasks himself as the killer, explaining his motivation: the innocent witness Peter Dunleavy murdered years ago, Charlie Emmerson, was William's father. William has adopted John Kramer’s methodology not to test the will to live, but to punish the corrupt police system that protected his father's murderer.
William reveals that he abducted Zeke’s father, Marcus Banks, after luring him to the hideout. He proposes an alliance, asking Zeke to join his crusade to brutally reform the Metropolitan Police Department. Zeke, desperate to save his father, reluctantly plays along initially.
The Final Test
William leads Zeke to the final trap. Marcus Banks is suspended in the air, with tubes draining his blood into jars on the floor. William reveals the depth of the corruption: as Chief, Marcus had enacted "Article 8," a policy that protected dirty cops like Bozwick and Fitch to maintain arrest statistics, effectively institutionalizing the corruption. William hands Zeke a revolver with a single bullet and presents a final dilemma: Zeke can shoot a spiral-shaped target to save his father and allow William to escape, or he can use the bullet to kill William, which will result in the trap killing Marcus.
Simultaneously, William calls the police, reporting a shooter at their location to draw a SWAT team to the warehouse.
The Living Marionette
Zeke makes his choice; he aims at the spiral target and fires. The mechanism activates, loosening the restraints and lowering Marcus safely to the floor. However, as Zeke turns to pursue and attack William, the SWAT team breaches the building. The door opening trips a wire that reactivates Marcus's trap.
Suddenly, wires jerk Marcus back into the air, manipulating his limbs like a marionette. The mechanism forces his arm upward, revealing a shotgun rigged to his hand. The entering SWAT officers, seeing a figure raising a weapon toward them, open fire without hesitation. Zeke screams in horror as his father is gunned down before his eyes. Amidst the chaos and tragedy, William Schenk steps into an elevator and descends, escaping into the night as the architect of the ultimate spiral.
