Manic Movie Month: Jigsaw

In last year's MMM, I took a look back at all the previous movies in the "Saw" franchise as some sort of a preparation for the release of the not so long awaited 8th movie in the series. I still think "Saw" is a brilliant concept, a man that went through a life changing event, setting a goal to make people bring out something humans in general has lost in recent years, the urge to survive and live, but after all the pointless sequels with boring characters, confusing stories, and over the top torture porn, I had grown pretty tired of the series. Therefore, I had a choice to make, either watch the new movie entitled "Jigsaw" in theaters, risking spending my money on another dumb sequel, or wait for it to pop up on any of the streaming services. Well, the wait is over, "Jigsaw" is here, and I am finally ready to vomit my opinion on it over all of you.


Spoiler warning from here on out

With seven years since the last "Saw" movie, you would think that the crew had taken their time to create a non confusing story that actually makes sense, and they did... sort of. It all starts with the police chasing down criminal Edgar Munsen. The chase leads to a rooftop where Edgar draws out a remote control, stating that he has to follow the rules of the game, either he dies, or five other people risk being killed. Detective duo Halloran and Hunt eventually reach the scene, tries to shoot the remote away, but not before Edgar triggering the game somewhere else. It is now up to Halloran, Hunt, and pathologists Logan Nelson and Eleanor Bonneville to solve the mystery over the dead bodies that appear, and the seemingly strange connection to the Jigsaw killer John Kramer, who has been dead for 10 years.

I gotta say, the movie does build up to an interesting mystery to why the games have started again, and even if I did not for a second believe that Jigsaw had risen back from the dead (especially since he has been dead for the last 4 movies), it does make you wonder who is the real killer. Unfortunately, I knew this was a "Saw" movie, so that meant that there were going to be a massive twist at the end, so you spend most of the movie trying to figure out what the twist is going to be. This shift of focus is not exactly to the film's advantage, and it is fairly easy to see where it all is going to end, but I do appreciate that they tried to make this a legit mystery that does not rely on any of the previous movies, with not a single flashback in sight (except for what kind of bad stuff the victims did, but that is expected).

I also like that the characters are not just hollow shells of human beings, but that they all have personalities. Halloran is a shady cop who is probably too mad for his own good, Logan is a former soldier that just lost his wife who got murdered, Eleanor is a woman with dark undertones, and Hunt... well, we do not get to know much about him, but I do not care, because he seem like a cool dude, looks a little like a younger Bernie Mac. So the characters are far from perfect, but they are still a step up from previous installments.

We have focused on the detectives and their work, so let us shift our focus to the other part of the movie, the five people who are in the main game. It goes back to the "group" formula that was previously used in "Saw II" and "Saw V", where they have to help each other to win the game, a set up I prefer a hell of a lot more than the "lone guy tries to help a bunch of strangers" formula. All four victims (the fifth one is gone after the first test) have personalities, but none of them are anything really special that we have not seen before. I do feel like Ryan is kind of an egotistical asshole though, a little too aggressive in his erratic behaviour.

How about the traps then? That is actually another thing I really like about the movie, the traps are much more scaled back, and not so over the top as before. They are simple traps that demands simple solutions, like cutting yourself on a saw blade to free yourself, or figuring out how much money you stole from someone so you can pick the right syringe. The way that leads to some of these traps are kind of dumb though, but then again, the movie cannot be too linear, so I will allow it.

Do you even English???

What I will not allow though is pure stupidity, and yes, we got loads of it in this movie as well. Stupid victims have been an achilles for the franchise since the second movie, something that makes my blood boil every time. In this barn they are in (btw, love that they are not in some sterile old hospital or warehouse, a nice change of scenery), there is a huge door with the words "No exit" written all over it, and what do they do? Ryan tries to exit it of course, ending with him getting his leg caught in some wire trap. Fast forward a bit into the movie, and Anna does the exact same thing, despite her clearly stating time and time again that they have to follow the rules of the game. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking? Then we have Mitch who is hanging on top of this blender thing and have to reach a brake at the bottom to free himself. But that is okay, because Anna use her skills as Spiderwoman, climbing up and stopping the machine temporarily, so they both start to cheer. What the hell are you doing? Just reach that god damn brake, and free yourself instead of prematurely celebrating! Whoops, too late, the machine started again and you have been blended (Mitch dust, don't breath this). There are some other stupid moments, but I cannot mention them all here, or we would be here forever, so let me get to the end of my thoughts.

The truth is, I was kind of entertained throughout the entire movie. Yes, this is far from a cinematic masterpiece, and there are several dumb moments in here, but this is probably the most well constructed "Saw" movie since the third installment. My expectations were not that high, so it might be affecting my overall verdict on this film, but after going through all that confusing shit in the last 4 sequels, this minimized change of pace is more than welcome. The acting may still be average at best (even if Tobin Bell is great as always as Jigsaw), the whole plot is far from a mystery, and it is far from frightening, but as far as a "Saw" movie goes, it is actually not that half bad.

Rating: 6,5/10 Billy puppets

Oh, and if you wonder where I would put this movie amongst the other installments, here is a quick power ranking.

1. Saw
2. Saw III
3. Saw II
4. Jigsaw
5. Saw VI
6. Saw V
7. Saw IV
8. Saw 3D