Here's the problems I had with the saw 4 plot. Please let me know what you think as I'm curious if others feel the same or if I'm missing something (particularly with the cops knowledge of Amanda's involvement with Jigsaw).
I have problems with the saw 4 plot. The writers did not do a good job with the script at all. They cheated, cut corners, and didn't feel the need to explain any of the improtant stuff. Also, my biggest problem is that once you know the ending, other stuff in the movie doesn't make sense. I'll go into specifics now.
As, we all know by now, Hoffman appears to be the new Jigsaw (although it sounded like he will be the main test subject in Saw5). Also, Jigsaw's autopsy at the beginning of the movie actually happened after everything else in the movie, which means that the entire movie actually took place during Saw 3. I didn't like this at all and felt that the writers cheated by doing this. There's nothing stopping them from doing this all the time. In Saw 13, it could take place while Adam and Dr. Gordon are chained in the bathroom.
My biggest problem with the movie is the timeline. Here's the plot as you understand it the 1st time. Jigsaw's dead. Kerry's too heavy for Jigsaw or Amanda, so there must be another accomplice. FBI tries to find this accomplice by interrogating Jigsaw's ex-wife. Suprise! Jigsaw's not dead yet. This takes place during Saw 3. The problem is that this was so poorly written that this doesn't make sense when you know that it takes place before Jigsaw's death. Keep in mind, that all of the cops know that Jigsaw's not dead. Problem 1. Why did they mention that Amanda couldn't lift Kerry, so there must be a 3rd person? They should not have known that Amanda worked with Jigsaw. There was nothing up until that point to indicate the she worked with Jigsaw. It makes sense when you think this is after they found Jigsaw and Amanda's bodies, but since this is before that, they wouldn't know that she worked with Jigsaw. There was nothing in the first 3 movies that tipped them off. Here's the other problem with the chronology of the film. The FBI expends all their energy to find Jigsaw's other accomplice. This makes sense if Jigsaw and Amanda are dead, but they aren't. Since the FBI knows that Jigsaw and Amanda are alive (even though they shouldn't know Amanda's involved) they should be trying to find THEM and not being SOLELY concered with finding the accomplice. This is just bad writing. They HAVE to be only looking for the accomplice because the audience has to believe that Jigsaw is dead. But since the FBI knows Jigsaw and Amanda are alive, they should really be trying to find them.
Here's the biggest problem I have with Hoffman being the new Jigsaw, or at the very least, Jigsaw's accomplice. They didn't explain it at all. They could've said that I was Jigsaw's accomplice and it would've made just as much sense. At least in Saw 2, they explained (albeit briefly) why Amanda joined Jigsaw ("He HELPED me"). In Saw 4, we get no such courtesy. Hoffman stands up and the writers say "Oh yeah. By the way. He was the accomplice all along). In Saw 2, they give clues that Amanda's working with Jigsaw throughout the whole movie. 1. She's always picking up things from the house that you can see in Jigsaw's lair if you look closely enough (the most obvious being the "x marks the spot" picture). 2. When the boy asks if they can survive since she survived, you can tell by her tone that she doesn't believe it. 3. When the boy almost says that his dad is a cop, but catches himself to say he's a real hard ***, you can tell by Amanda's reaction when he pauses that she knows exactly who his father is. 4. Amanda never gets sick. Everyone else around her is coughing blood from the gas, but Amanda never so much as coughs. The writers were clever enough to write these things into the script, while still not giving away that she is working with Jigsaw. When you watch the movie again with this knowledge, you can pick up on those things. In Saw 4, there's no indication that Hoffman is working with Jigsaw. Jigsaw's accomplice could've just as easily been Rigg, Mathews, the lawyer ex-partner, ex-wife, battered wife, or even the female FBI agent. Any of them would've made as much sense as Hoffman.
