La Ron S. Readus
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Spiral's Plot & Synopsis ISN'T What We Need Right Now! (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2021-06-07 20:00:03 +0000 UTCReaders, if you’ve been a long-time subscriber of the channel, or if you decided to do some deep-diving in the channel's videos of yester-year, then you’d know that the Saw franchise is kinda a guilty pleasure of mine.
Out of the original 7 movies the last good one in my opinion was part 4, and I pretty much only stuck around to see how the yearly installments they kept releasing in response to the narrative it kept revealing about itself was gonna end.
Meanwhile the 8th film Jigsaw was an okay -- but unnecessary -- installment continuation of the series that alluded to the idea that there was at least one last disciple of John Kramer out there.
/So when I found out that Spiral: From the Book of Saw was going to be a pseudo sequel-slash-spinoff to the 8-film John Kramer saga for lack of better words instead of just, y’know...Saw 9, I was interested in seeing where they were going to take it./
Especially after I learned that Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson was going to be the faces of this fresh new take on the franchise, that -- because let's just face it; it's one of the main things about the films that’s ALWAYS going to make its way there -- will bring just enough closure to leave itself open for sequels.
And from the look of the trailer, it definitely peaked my interest
Then I watched it. And I’m gonna be honest with you, Readers; I didn’t know exactly how to feel
Let’s get one thing straight, in case you got the wrong impression from that last statement; the story of Spiral is good and Chris Rock gives a great performance in it as his character Ezekiel Banks.
/Because of his comedic background, he pulls off the lone wolf cop that’s been jaded from being on the force for such a long angle very well. ESPECIALLY if you compare Zeke to Detective Butters in Lethal Weapon 4; the first cop role I’ve ever seen him in./
/And because he and his past were the focus of the Jigsaw copycat instead of how the previous movies played out its narrative, the overall story played more like it was in the subgenre of slasher horror instead of the splatter horror the other ones were in, despite still using techniques usually established with it./
It definitely gave off Seven vibes but it was a bit more simplistic than Seven. If you really pay attention to the clues and are familiar with certain story beats and tropes in slashers and horror stories involving a serial killer, you can pretty much figure out who the Jigsaw copycat is near the end of the movie’s second act.
/But Banks’ journey in finding out who it is, what their motive is, and why they’re doing it in the first place is its own reward when it comes to unraveling the mystery/
So if it's not how the film handles the aspect of unmasking the Jigsaw copycat, or the performances by Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson that’s the problem I have with the film, then what is, you may be asking? It’s how it handles the topic regarding the focal point of the very movie.
/And the focal point is the current state of corrupt law enforcement./
Now, before I continue on, this is your obligatory spoiler warning for Spiral. If you plan on going to watch it in theaters or rent it and don’t want it spoiled for you, wait until you properly do so before you continue this video if you care.
/But the reason why I said what I said is because one of the things we find out about Zeke Banks’s background is that he took down a dirty cop who murdered a witness to one of said cops' crimes and tried to play it off like/ (He pulled a gun on me. He pulled a gun on you?)
As you could tell from that clip, Zeke found that hard to believe.
And as you could imagine, when Zeke put said cop away -- because of COURSE he did -- it caused at least 80 percent of the other cops in the precinct -- most of said cops its revealed later on in the movie are just as corrupt as the one he put away -- to frown upon him and lose their respect.
/Despite being the son of the previous and well-respected retired chief of police Marcus Banks, played by Samuel L. Jackson./
Who, it's revealed that thanks to a law that was passed back then called Article 8, gave cops their own discretion to handle crime as they saw fit, which caused damn near every single cop with the exception of Banks in that precinct to utilize that Article to their advantage in order to protect themselves from the likes of participating in illegal activity, committing first degree murder and lying under oath in order to put innocent people behind bars.
/And most importantly, it allowed those in charge of the precinct -- Angie Garza and Zeke’s own father -- to protect them./
Which is why, alongside the latter two individuals, the Jigsaw copycat -- who its revealed to be Zeke’s newly assigned partner Bill Emerson -- targets every corrupt police officer in Zeke’s district and puts him front in center
/Hoping that by the end of everything, Zeke can see what he’s trying to do regarding ridding the city of corrupt officers, considering what he was willing to do in the past, and decides to join him in his crusade./
Now, as you can imagine, part of the reason why I personally felt off about the decisions made in regards to choosing corruption within the police force as the angle for Spiral is due to how close to home it is to a lot of people in real life in the United States over the past...9 or so years.
So many innocent people -- especially people of color -- have died because of the combination of police brutality and systemic racism established throughout this nation, and left both law enforcement and the judicial system in such a state that it cannot even be trusted by the people to correctly do its job
So when I see a character in Spiral like Zeke -- a cop that has grown so jaded regarding the people he works with because he doesn’t know who he can trust to either have his back or to uphold the law morally and without prejudice...
I’m forced to see all of those Facebook and Twitter videos, all of those TikToks, and all of those articles that highlight the cops actually DEDICATED to upholding the law properly...
/But are constantly berated with losing the respect of their fellow officers and chiefs to the point of losing their jobs due to refusing to comply with corruption, because/ (You know...loyalty?)
The conflict here however, is that this movie was conceived too early for it to have been immediately inspired by the RIDICULOUS wave of police brutality that re-sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in the year 2020.
Before the current health and safety crisis hit and caused it to shift to its 2021 release, the movie was originally scheduled to be released on May 15, 2020. George Floyd was killed by ex Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chavin 10 days later
And as 2020 went on rolling into 2021, we’ve seen wave after wave of multiple innocent people of color falling victim to police brutality and corruption, only for the ones responsible to be constantly protected due to the combination of that same “loyalty” mentioned in Spiral and the systemic racism that enforces it to remain unchallenged.
So even though Spiral was conceived and created in a time BEFORE the current apex regarding the fight against police brutality, it’s very hard for me -- and I’m sure some of you as a result -- to not look at the characters and the scenario the movie supplies and find the decisions it made with them both uncomfortable and disappointing.
Outside of Chris Rock wanting to be the main character considering he was an executive producer and helped write the treatment for the film, Zeke being a black man is reminiscent of all those videos and articles of unprejudiced cops that truly want to protect and serve as I stated earlier.
But it's hard for me to keep that in mind when I, as a black man that has been affected by the likes of racial profiling by law enforcement before, gets pulled over NOW -- in THIS day and age -- and hope that’s one of the ones I get.
And while it is, in fact, possible for there to be a person of color that was in Samuel L. Jackson’s position in regards to protecting the corrupt cops within his precinct -- trust me; we’re currently dealing with one in Detroit, so I know it's possible...
It was still hard for me to look at Jackson’s character once the copycat revealed what he did to Zeke, and not think to myself:
How could you -- as a black man -- allow yourself to step in the way of these people, knowing good and damn well that your position of power won’t make you exempt?
Readers, Spiral isn’t a case of a bad movie with ill intentions. What Spiral IS is a decent movie within the Saw universe...that came out too soon.
Because Spiral was released in the midst of the current movement of combating systemic racism and police brutality, the respectability politics it represents unintentionally deflect the importance of it in ways that SOME of us who may not know better, either just can’t currently gel with or can’t help but take out of context, considering everything.
And I say that as an individual who knows that the production process of a motion picture takes more time than some may realize in order to get from a greenlit pitch to a theatrical release...
Yet STILL felt that the very nature of Spiral’s narrative and character choices were making light of the current fight we’re dealing with in real life.
So if you are in fact a Saw fan but you feel like you might be the same way when you watch Spiral, I suggest that you get in a proper headspace in order for you to do so.
And if that’s not currently possible for you, then I simply suggest that you hold off on watching it until you are
So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what you thought of Spiral: From the Book of Saw if you’ve seen it.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a film you watched that coincidentally touched on a subject that was a bit sore for you that you had a hard time disassociating it from because of its commentary.
Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
