Hitman + Saw IV

Watched the DVD at Decky's place with the Skittlez. This is actually the second time I saw the movie, but I was too lazy to do any review of any sort. Well anyway, the movie is your typical shoot-em up action flick. Lots of nice guns, and seemingly impossible gunfights, which of course, Agent 47 (the main character) would always win. The flick is based on the hit Playstation game of the same title, and I found it really creepy that the actor could walk and does look like the Agent 47 of the game.

The movie starts off with kids in an indoctrination camp called The Organization, being taught how to be the perfect assassins. They are taught to be ruthless and to be killing machines, whose only purpose is the completion of a successful assassination. One agent stands out among them, and that is Agent 47. Along the years of service for The Organization, he is hunted by an Interpol policeman, Agent Mike Whittier. Meanwhile, Agent 47 is hired again, and is tasked to kill the Russian President Mikhail Belicoff. He does this, using a sniper rifle from over 4km away (Wow). As he goes back in his hotel room, he is instructed to kill a witness, Nika Boronina. He is ready to kill Nika on the sidewalks of St. Petersburg, but stops as he realizes she has never seen him before. He goes back to his hotel room, and discovers that the hit on "Belicoff" was set up by Belicoff himself, and that Belicoff did not die, and was portrayed as only a grazing wound. He does not know that his hotel hideout was discovered by both the Interpol and the FSB (the Russian CIA). Agent Whittier comes at the site, where he is met by FSB agent Yuri Marklov. FSB is unwilling to wait to capture Agent 47 and sends in an elite SWAT-like team. Unfortunately, Agent 47 is very skilled and kills 16 of them in the various battles around the hotel.

Agent 47 kidnaps Nika, and interrogates her. They try to leave at a train station, but is intercepted by first, a lone agent, and then 3 more at the train cabin. He kills all of them, most notably the last 3 in a knife fight, and manages to escape with Nika. Agent 47 arranges a meeting with CIA agent Agent Smith, and makes a deal; Smith would help him in the future if he kills Mikhail Belicoff's brother Udre for him. Smith agrees, as Udre is politically protected by his President brother. Agent 47 goes to Turkey with Nika and after posing as an arms-dealer, kills Udre in a massive firefight at Udre's lair. The death of Udre was meant to draw out Belicoff and his double. Agent 47 captures Yuri Marklov in his trick from the game, the coin (to distract), and rigs him in a trap, forcing him to order his own FSB agents to kill Belicoff. Agent 47 captures Belicoff's double and kills him in a church. He then allows himself to be captured by Interpol's Agent Whittier. On the way, the Interpol caravan is distracted by the CIA's Agent Smith, and Agent 47 manages to escape. Agent 47 appears in Agent Whittier's house, and provides a look-alike body to help Agent Whittier convince Interpol that the real Agent 47 is dead.

The movie ends with Nika opening an envelope containing documents that she now owns a vineyard. She told Agent 47 that it had been a childhood dream of hers. Agent 47 watches her from a sniper scope from some distance, and there, a dead agent from The Organization lies. He ends by telling the dead agent, "I told you to leave her alone. You should have listened".

6/10



What can I say? It's the fourth installment of the Saw series, and this one is different in that Jigsaw (the original serial killer) is dead, and that a new apprentice is doing the 'tests'. Who can it be?

The film begins at an autopsy room. While Jigsaw is being operated on, a wax-covered tape is found in his stomach. Detective Hoffman comes into the scene, playing the tape and there, Jigsaw says that his games have just begun.

The next scene features two men in a mausoleum. One has his eyes sewn shut, and the other (who will turn out to be Art Blank) has his lips sewn shut. They fail to work together, and as they try to kill each other, a machine turns, drawing them together through the chains on their necks. Art sees a key on the other man's neck, and kills him with a hammer and he successfully escape the test. Later in the movie, he is seen as finding an envelope congratulating him and giving another test.

The police then find Detective Kerry, murdered in Saw III. Detective Rigg rush in through the unsecured door, earning the wrath of Detective Hoffman. Detectives Struhm and Perez deduce that Amanda, Jigsaw's apprentice, could not have been strong enough to lift Kerry, leaving the only possibility as Jigsaw having another accomplice.

That night, Rigg is attacked in his house and Hoffman is kidnapped. In his home, Rigg discovers he has tests from Jigsaw, teaching him how to truly save a life. Rigg discovers Brenda, a woman who pimps young girls, strapped to a chair that will scalp her alive. He is forced to make a decision: see her as a victim, or see her as a criminal. This is why Jigsaw calls this test SEE WHAT I SEE. Rigg saves Brenda, who tries to kill him (her own test). She fails, and succumbs to her wounds. Rigg leaves with 2 keys to the Alexander Motel. Rigg has 90 minutes to save his friend Eric Matthews from death.

At the motel, Rigg discovers a room with a pig's head on the bed. There, he reads instructions from Jigsaw telling him about Ivan, the motel clerk, who's a pervert, voyeur, and a serial rapist. Jigsaw wants Rigg to "FEEL WHAT I FEEL" and let Ivan punish himself. Ivan's contraption are 4 posts on a bed and a head vice. He can activate 2 scythes, blinding himself, and thus saving his body, or he can wait for the timer to activate, ripping his limbs off. Ivan only blinds one eye, and the device rips him apart. A message for Rigg from Jigsaw asks him to go 'back to where it all began'.

Rigg goes back to the school where he investigated a child-abuse case. The abuser was the principal, but as evidence was lacking, he was acquitted. Rigg then attacks the man, earning a lawsuit. The lawyer turns out to be Art Blank. Well anyway, at the school, Rigg discovers the abusive man and his wife back to back, metal poles through their bodies. The poles penetrate the man's organs and arteries, while the woman only has muscle wounds. If she saves herself, her husband dies, and if she doesn't they both bleed out. This test was to teach Rigg how to "SAVE AS I SAVE". He leaves the classroom, pulling the fire alarm to alert authorities.

Struhm and Perez arrive, finding the woman dead. A harpoon gun fires, missing Perez but hitting a forensic photographer in the head. *gory* Perez and Struhm look around and find a Billy doll which warns Perez her 'next step is critical'. She steps closer and the doll explodes, sending shrapnel to her face.

Struhm confronts Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill as to why Jigsaw is like this. She tells of her miscarriage when a drug addict named Cecil shoved a door at her, crushing her belly. This makes Jigsaw crazy and it is revealed that Cecil becomes the first victim of his 'tests'. Cecil is strapped to a chair with blades cutting his arms. He has to push his face (hard) through 8 sharp knives to scar his face, to match his 'scarred soul'.

Rigg enters the Gideon Meat Factory and discovers the door to his last test. Inside are Art, Eric, and Hoffman. Art has a spine-cutter attached to his back. If no one comes in at 90 minutes, he will press a button, setting all 3 free. If he fails, his spine is cut. Eric Matthews is standing on a melting block of ice, and 2 ice blocks are ready to crush his head. Art gives Eric a gun with 1 bullet to stop anyone from entering. At 0:01, Rigg barges in, and is shot by Eric. Rigg shoots Art dead, and with that, the traps activate and Eric is killed by the falling ice-blocks. The water draining from the ice block flows to Hoffman, completing the charge he's sitting on, and electrocuting him. As Rigg lay dying, Hoffman unstraps himself.. Revealing himself as the new apprentice.

Struhm enters a room with Jeff (from Saw III) where he kills Jeff in self-defense. Hoffman comes behind and locks the steel door, trapping Struhm inside with no way out.

What a plot. =) It's freaking awesome.

8/10

Jay~