Okay, let me get this straight.

The killer died in the third film?

Correct.

The killer was still dead in the fourth film, but the creative team was pretty much still intact.

Yep.

Saw V? Why?

Oh yeah, money.

Sigh.

Sometimes, I hate Hollywood.

In case you're wondering, "Saw V" sucks. I don't feel a need to wax eloquent, defend myself or give you lots of narrative about the film.

You know it. I know it. Heck, I bet the stars know it. This film sucks.

In fact, this film may even suck more than "The Haunting of Molly Hartley."

Doesn't that just suck?

This time, the film centers on two of the law enforcement guys, Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Strahm (Scott Patterson). These characters weren't interesting when they first appeared in the "Saw" series and they're not interesting now.

There are two things that strike me as particularly sad here-

1) This series continues to make money, and;

2) The creators actually think we care about the characters.

NOBODY cares about Jigsaw. The only people who are continuing to go see "Saw" are people who harbor secret fantasies about the 10,001 ways to mutilate a human being without getting caught. I dare say they are socially maladjusted, confused or just plain freakin' nuts individuals who couldn't care a bit about the aura of Jigsaw and this film's laughably silly determination to explain it all away.

There aren't any performances worth mentioning here, but that's hardly relevant. "Saw V" is about the killing, as were "Saw" through "Saw IV."

While bad acting isn't necessarily a surprise, what is a surprise is how obnoxiously boring "Saw V" is...after all, love it or hate it "torture porn" isn't exactly boring. "Saw V" is boring. Plain and simple.

Tech credits are consistent with what should be expected, however, in virtually every way possible "Saw V" is easily the worst of the series' five films.