Saw VI might be my favorite film in the entire series. It takes everything Saw V did right and adds on a politically and narratively relevant series of traps. The head of the insurance company that denied John Kramer's, aka Jigsaw's, petition to try an experimental cancer procedure finds himself in a whole lot of trouble for his business practices. He has many levels of employees who make it their job to find mistakes in applications that allow for policies to be cancelled before any expensive treatments are provided for. He has an hour to remove four explosives--two wrist, two ankles--to prevent his untimely death. To achieve that goal, he must play four games with his trusted employees.
At the same time, Jill Tuck, Detective Hoffman, and the FBI are all circling each other. Jill Tuck is now forced to play a role in Jigsaw's games, setting the insurance traps in motion. Detective Hoffman wants to work by himself and torments Jill until he gets his way. And the surviving agents and detectives from IV are back to figure out who the real second accomplice is for good.
Kevin Greutert, the editor of Saw III through V gets to step into the director chair for VI. He's the perfect choice to handle the material. This particular story is all about the balance between the various players--there are more victims unconnected to the insurance company--and the emotional arc of the story. You basically see the destruction of the insurance head as he's forced to literally issue death sentences face to face with his employees. Greutert understands how to build arcs and tension, even if the final say belongs to a different team in this entry.
The standout moment of the film is the opening trap. Back in the day, VH1 actually teamed up with the producers of Saw to create a reality competition series called Scream Queens. The winner (determined by Shawnee Smith, James Gunn (yes, that James Gunn), and acting coach John Homa) would receive a prime role in the next Saw entry.
Tanedra Howard gets to set the tone for the sharpest entry in the series. Her and another mortgage broker are told they have 60 seconds to feed the most flesh into a machine. The loser has their head crushed by bolts attached to their restraints. The pound of flesh trap is particularly grizzly, with the man filleting his ample stomach and the woman trying again and again to chop her arm off. Howard's role could have ended in the trap, but the writers admitted to being so impressed with her performance that they added a second scene in for her; it's amazing. It is, frankly, the most realistic thing to happen in any Saw film. No feel good "he saved me" nonsense here.
What's also interesting about Saw VI is competent police work. These surviving detectives and agents clearly survived their previous encounters with Jigsaw because they were the smartest people in the office. It takes them no time to set up Detective Hoffman for his fall. It also takes no time for him to think of escape plans at every turn. It's an interesting dynamic that plays so much better than similar attempts in IV.
At this point, I can safely tell you you'll get the best of the Saw series by watching the original, II, and VI. Add on III if you really want to see some great actors sink their teeth into actual dialogue in a Saw film for once. Otherwise, you can safely avoid the other entries; just pretend IV doesn't exist.
The entire Saw series received a beautiful Blu-ray release. Otherwise, Saw VI can be rented from all the major digital platforms.