User reviews

Despite the last SAW movie being called "The Final Chapter" 2017 brought us yet another addition to the franchise and it's a real mixed bag.

I think the SAW series started off very well, they showed real promise were clever well constructed movies but alas alike so many other horror franchises it got milked into mediocrity.

The movies gradually got worse and worse and they felt desperate, blatant cash ins and it was such a shame that such a franchise had become tarnished. These things need to know when to call it a day and SAW didn't.

So here we have another game, another spate of killings in gruesome fashion but this time it looks like Jigsaw is really back from the grave!

Sprinkled with good ideas Jigsaw is certainly an improvement on other recent efforts and delivers a few twists along the way. It doesn't however come close to the dizzying heights of the first few films.

I'd advise fans of the franchise give this a go but truly believe that this should be the last. Let SAW die before it becomes another franchise whose credibility is gone because it's creators didn't know when to stop.

The Good:

Passable twist

Tobin Bell

The Bad:

Still not coming close to its origins

Essentially more of the same

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I still love Jigsaws style and struggle to see him as an antagonist

It was a good movie, thrilling, good mystery-puzzle and all that. I am a fan of the Saw series, I just don't see a reason why make a sequel to that and continue it while unnecessary and ruin the ''legacy''! And from what I can gather there will be Jigsaw 2 3 etc. It is a good movie, but not as a Saw sequel. Otherwise I recommend watching it to Saw fans. PS: The graphic works could be better.

Jigsaw packs a punch like the other SAW movies.

I don't know why people are criticising the film the twist were usually what you expect from the franchise as a huge SAW fan. I really enjoyed the film also Seeing Tobin bell as jigsaw again on screen really what got me watching it in the first place. Also Charlie Clouser's Score is like a cherry on top.

From 2004 to 2010, we were greeted with a Saw film once every Halloween. Each film built on the foundation of the previous film, literally deeming them as iterations of one another. Now that time has past between films and new films and ideas have come out since then in the torture porn genre (I hate using that phrase, especially to describe the first film), new ground had to be broken. There are die- hard Saw fans like myself who know most every little intricacy of the first seven films, but nobody cares about the old formula anymore. It tired itself out. Instead of reiterating, it was now time to innovate. Enter co-writers Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger and co-directors Michael & Peter Spierig, and in Halloween of 2017 you get Jigsaw.

All of this follows an eerily similar path to the Jurassic Park franchise. JP had sequels that, while in-name they hold their own, after a while started turn away some moviegoers and even got close to jumping the shark if it continued down the beaten path. So they created some space between themselves for some years, and came back with a re-branding. Both films (Jigsaw and Jurassic World) serve as standalone films if you so want to treat them as such or jump into them anew, play off their respective first films in terms of content and paying proper homage, modernize themselves and play more to a general casual audience (Jigsaw domestically, JW globally), can and probably will churn out its own set of sequels, and let veterans of the franchises appreciate the small bits that played off any one of the previous installments. Jurassic World lives in a PG-13 setting though and caved in to more Hollywood tropes (including CGI), plus is a much higher budget film, but Jigsaw still breaks a lot of new ground that will not play familiarly to the Saw films of old.

When Darren Lynn Bousman jumped on board to direct Saw II, he noted in the commentary track what some of the 'staples' were for the franchise, including quick-cuts. While I don't agree with that assessment, this continued for his next two films in the franchise, and directors David Hackl and Kevin Greutert followed up with a similar format. The films also found themselves in flashback haven, remained almost exclusively within interior settings, and centralized a set of characters to connect within a small universe. Jigsaw opens up to the feeling that this is taking place in a larger city and environment, letting characters in and out of the games explore more and be realer people (in that they do not just serve the purpose of the film alone, like they have lives outside of what we see). The framing of the film has changed, the color palette has widened, Charlie Clouser's score is not as in-your-face, and the production simply doesn't feel as cheap. Right steps were made in making this film much more accessible, and I see this continuing in the future.

While Jurassic World actually seems to remove the sequels from canon (we will see if that's true with Jeff Goldblum's appearance in Fallen Kingdom), Jigsaw plays strongly in the sense that if you go without seeing, recalling, or keeping in mind Saw 4-7, you will be okay. Hoffman is completely out of the picture in Jigsaw, never once mentioned or concerned about. The only traits to be aware of in those films was that John lost a child, was once in a relationship with Jill Tuck, and there was an autopsy performed on his body. In fact, you could just as easily disregard specifics about Saw II and Saw III, and you will probably be okay. Knowing that John Kramer was killed in the third film just might be enough.

This one really mostly plays off the first film to be most effective, though. Aside from the elaborateness of the traps and games being made (which could transition more smoothly seeing the other seven films first), we can leave the first film understanding that a cancer- stricken individual puts victims in life-or-death scenarios because of moral sins they have committed, and if killed get a puzzle piece cut out of their bodies. Seasoned individuals will also find some of the twists in the new film somewhat predictable simply because they know how Jigsaw thinks (or really, how the writers think). There were over a half-dozen twists, and I probably guessed or suspected the majority of them. Didn't make the film any inferior because I'm sitting and thinking about the casual moviegoer experiencing this film, and I think the best thing you can do for yourself now is at least see the first film and heck even at most know the outcome of the original trilogy. Saw IV, V, VI and The Final Chapter now all end up being fan-service flicks, unless any Jigsaw sequels end up coming back to them more than they have now.

I liked this movie. It could've been a complete garbage escapade like the seventh film was, and it wasn't. This reignites the franchise after it had stalled out and breathes fresh air. Maybe we will get a couple more within the next few Halloweens, because there is something to explore but I don't know how they'll want to do it. It is up to their creative bones now, and I like that facet of it because they can make good films if they try their darnedest in doing so.

If this film interests you enough that you want to give the first film a chance and haven't yet, go to Netflix right now to check it out, consider completing the original trilogy if you loved it enough to see what happens next, and check out this film when you're able to. I've reached my 1000-word limit, so now I'll just leave you here with my franchise ranking:

1, 3, 6, 2, J, 5, 4, 7

Very disappointing. Not only they rehashed many ideas from the previous movies, but the final reveal was also done SEVERAL times in the previous saws.

I won't go into details because of spoilers, but every time some plot twist happened in the movie I was like "Wait, they already did that in Saw X". In fact, I since I saw all the Saws (pun intended) I was able to correctly guess what the final reveal will be because like I said, they already done it before.

And most of the traps were just plain dumb, some of them giving a lot of room for cheating, which broke the immersion for me, because the "gamers" were acting like idiots who for some reason switched their brains off and walked into them like sheep. Other traps required pretty much clairvoyance from the Jigsaw, because to set up them the way they went, he would have to see the fricking future.

Early Saws used to be great, but this movie, and several previous ones, are just plain bad and the franchise needs to be put to rest at this point. And if the decide to make another one, just don't rehash the same stuff over and over and over again.

Since the Saw franchise is one of my biggest guilty pleasures when it comes to horror, I've been hoping for a new installment ever since The Final Chapter was supposed to end the franchise back in 2010. Even though the movies got progressively worse, there is something about this franchise that always draws me back and makes me want to re-watch it.

I had high expectations for Jigsaw because of two reasons: one, the producers stated in an interview that they were offered more than a hundred scripts for a new movie from different writers, but had never been pleased with any of them until they discovered a script so good, which ultimately got picked to be adapted; second, the Spierig brothers, Jigsaw's directors, had previously directed Predestination, such a smart and enticing sci-fi time- travel movie that I liked quite a lot.

After seeing Jigsaw, I left the theater disappointed. I'll start with what I enjoyed:

The score by Charlie Clouser is just as fabulous as it has always been and manages to go in line perfectly with each scene.

The performances didn't bother me at all, although none of the actors really gets to shine. Laura Vandervoort and Paul Braunstein stood out here, with the latter generating some funny moments worthy of admiration.

The direction was very polished and the movie was competently filmed, but the Spierig brothers weren't given much to show their creativity on. This leads me to the negatives.

The CGI is very good. There is, however, one scene in which I was feeling as if I was watching one of the most recent Resident Evil movies and that didn't really work for me.

What I didn't like:

The ideas in this movie and its overall plot are somewhat underdeveloped. I know that this is supposed to be a new "beginning" for these movies, but as a franchise starter, I wanted more to be explored. The plot falls flat because the movie cuts from scene to scene so swiftly and tries to cram multiple narratives into 85 minutes, that ultimately none of them makes an impact.

Saw is known for its visceral traps and torture devices, so I was looking forward to seeing more of that. However, the game presented in this movie has next to no memorable traps. That is because they are a lot tamer than what we've seen before and they simply can't hold a candle to all the ingenious traps from the past movies.

The character development is another issue in this movie. The characters are so uni-dimensional, with some of them being there only to fill the screen. And I'm referring to some of the main casting here. Also, character arcs are left unfinished and the movie felt like it ended when the most important part of the story was about to happen.

The editing undermines what could've been some very suspenseful scenes because of its sloppiness, by cutting from one narrative (the game) to the other (the investigation) at random moments.

Now, it all comes down to the twist. Was it good and unexpected? Well, no, not really. It's not necessarily because you can predict it from miles away (for which the movie offers hints throughout the run-time) due to its small set of characters, but because it had no resonance for me. It didn't blow me away and you could've predicted it from the marketing of the movie alone. Just like with the traps, it just doesn't have the same visceral feel as the past movies and it doesn't really make you crave for the release of the next chapter.

Overall, Jigsaw sets itself apart from the previous movies in the series with the help of the two directors who manage to make the movie look stylish and slick, but ultimately, it doesn't succeed in creating the sense of urgency that some of the old movies had and, sadly, disappoints on almost every other level. And yes, there are fan-service moments, but as a fan of this franchise, I felt very little excitement when they happened.

Hopefully, if the movie does well in terms of box office, the sequel will improve upon this franchise "reinvention".

"Let's Play A Game", those simple words haunted the theaters for years, signaling the start of yet another slasher movie in the Saw series. What started out as a unique twist to the serial killer saga was only the start to a face cringing, spine tingling, sometimes nauseating saga that hooked people in until around the sixth-seventh iteration when it finally ended. That was until this year, where the saga was to be reanimated in hopes of bringing more bucks to the theaters. Will this eighth installment have the ability to defy death like it's protagonist antihero, or is it dead like the poor victims of his games. Only one way to find out and that is read my friends, so let's get started!

LIKES:

Fast-Pace: With all the slow movies I have been seeing, I give props to the Saw series maintaining their consistent pace. From start to finish, the tale keeps moving, sparing no second for unnecessary details or attempts at prolonged character development. The mystery of figuring out the identity of the game master, mixed with the spread-out trials that promise a messy end are well-balanced to keep things going.

Decent Characters: A horror movie often has many brain-dead characters begging to be chainsaw fodder. Fortunately, Saw movies continue to choose players who have a little more complexity and skills than many of the Spring Break teens favored. The tradition lives on, as each player has a little more buried within, still having a few obviously destined corpses, but others who have a shot at making it out. And for those not in the game, but trying to solve the mystery, they too have some layers to them that may or may not be pertinent to the story. It's those engaging elements that are crafted in the story, making them more engaging to follow.

The Presentation: Another component I still like is the presentation of the movie. Many go for the kills, but the better component for me is how they separate the story into two settings. One is still the players trying to escape the closes thing to hell's torture chamber, while the other are the outside characters hunting down the "maniac" that continues to weave his traps. The ability to entangle these two components, balancing their timing to provide clues and hints to the story all while keeping you invested in the game. Such a dynamic presentation provides those checks and balances necessary for a slasher movie, and keeping things as fresh as possible.

Twist: As many of you know, Saw movies are all about the ability to throw that last wrench into the gears to blow your mind. Despite my experience with predicting endings, this one got me. The questions I asked were on the right path, but they were able to drop enough interfering factors to throw me off the trail. Jigsaw once again impresses me with their storytelling, and their mastery of presentation. I can't say much more, but ask the right questions and you might get the answers.

DISLIKES:

Lazy Deaths: Those first few movies were convoluted in their traps. They had designed devices that were an impressive display of imagination, horror, and engineering that gave everyone a kick in terms of design. While Jigsaw still has the impressive connections and storytelling, it unfortunately fails in the terms of the traps themselves. They are surprisingly simple for the most part, and a little more reserved than I expected in this modern era. Yes, there is still plenty of blood in this battle for moral consequences, but they didn't involve quite as much skin crawling madness.

Acting a little cheesy: Despite the engaging characters, there are times when there are a few inconsistencies in the character's intelligence, or often the case their acting. While decent for the most part, the writers hit some blocks in terms of dialogue or direction they wanted the characters to go. There are those moments the "tension" overwhelms them into hysterical messes that are cheesy rather than believable. In addition, the dialogue sometimes gets lazy, just going into expletives than conducive dialog. A weak dislike yes, but I'm drawing on straws.

The potential for a series: Like the original series, I had hoped for an ending, but then this movie showed up. While I did enjoy it, I am worried that the way this movie ends sets up the potential for a new series to start. Sure, this means more Saw goodness, but it also means the potential to dilute this movie into another run of the mill series that will become a product of lazy producing. Hopefully that won't happen, but these days series are the prize most companies seek.

The VERDICT:

Jigsaw is the piece of the puzzle that brings quality back to the lovely massacre series. Going back to the roots, the writers were able to bring back a brilliant presentation and characters you can follow. All the nostalgic qualities rush in with the deadly traps, bringing that fast-pace, twisting tale that captivated us all those years ago. While still not the first movie, especially in terms of death design and potential to revive the series, it was a welcome addition to the series. So, if you are looking for the horror movie of the month, Jigsaw is your answer for the theater my friends.

My scores:

Crime/Horror/Mystery: 8.5 Movie Overall: 7.0

Although its potential shines brighter than what it became, and it certainly has its clunkier moments, Jigsaw manages to shine among the Saw sequels with its ambitious approach and purely entertaining storyline. I know this film certainly has a lot of haters, and I can understand their dislike for the film to a certain level. Its ambitious, and at times feels like if just a little more effort was made, it could have been great, which is certainly disappointing. However, I appreciate Jigsaw immensely for its cleverness and well crafted storyline. It's a very entertaining film, unlike 4-6 you won't feel moments of boredom throughout. Some traps can be a bit basic, but others are incredibly well done, perhaps some of the best in the franchise in general. It's full of so many twists and turns and works on so many levels it's hard to believe that they pulled it off at least somewhat at all. The cinematography is excellent, very different from the grotesque look and atmosphere of the other films, providing a much needed and refreshing point of view. Tobin Bell's performance is excellent, with Matt Passmore and Hannah Emily Anderson providing some excellent leading performances as well. In the end, Jigsaw is a flawed puzzle, but it still makes a beautiful picture.

My Rating: 7.4/10.

Prior to watching 'Jigsaw', as part of my wanting to see as many 2017 films as possible during a much needed quiet period after five years of intensive, richly rewarding but at times stressful music college studying, the previous seven 'Saw' films were watched to know what to expect and having heard so much about the franchise.

The franchise is somewhat variable in quality, the problematic but very well done first film being the best and the best sequels being the second and sixth. The third film didn't do much for me, the fourth film left me on the fence while the fifth and 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' were severe let downs. Will go out on a limb, and am not sure how controversial an opinion it is, saying that after seeing 'Jigsaw' that it is generally one of the series' best and perhaps the best since the first.

'Jigsaw' is not perfect certainly and the problems here are apparent in the previous films too. The editing is sloppy. The characters are one-dimensional with incomplete character arcs. The story does have logic and credulity issues (like the rest of the 'Saw' films did, including the original), with a few strands not particularly well rounded off. The script, sometimes tight and intriguing while half-baked and cheesy in others, and the acting, with a chilling Tobin Bell and an assured Laura Vandervoort coming off very well and others being bland, are uneven.

However, 'Jigsaw', editing aside, doesn't look too bad at all, to me it's one of the better-looking 'Saw' films and a far cry from the shoddiness of 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter's' production values. It's claustrophobic, elaborate and very atmospheric, with a creepy production design and some of the series' most polished direction helping a lot. The music is suitably eerie.

Despite its ridiculousness, the story is also edge-of-your-seat and highly atmospheric. There is genuine dread, some truly imaginative traps and kills and much of it throughout is disturbing and creepy. It's gruesome but not gratuitously or over-reliantly so. While structurally it's pretty much more of the same, there is enough freshness to stop 'Jigsaw' from feeling tired and like the series had run out of juice, a vibe that a few of the previous sequels gave off. The turns the film takes are clever if not exactly bold, and the spectacularly chilling ending is one of the series' best and most memorable, saying a lot seeing as most of the films do not have good endings (with the exceptions of the first, 'Saw VI' and this). Jigsaw himself still fascinates with enough of what sets him apart as a character.

Overall, Jigsaw is back in one of the series' better outings. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I was a huge fan of the original series, although as more films were released the thrill lessened. The first is a Classic and may have one of the best twists of all time, and that's what makes it such a great film. It wasn't about the horror.

This one, although entertaining, same awkward acting by many characters, same grizzly traps, and most of all a twist, which I believe everyone expects, however I feel there's some major plot holes that leaves me feeling dissatisfied. Of course I won't ruin for anyone, but this film reaches far, way too far, in my humble opinion.

Very reminiscent of the original, but fails in the end. Maybe they'll do better next time because a new Saw film is always welcome to take a swing.

Note: the red headed coroner was super hot, even before she let her hair down and took her glasses off. Way too hot to be a coroner. (not being sexist, just keeping it real)

I have seen the first 3 movies in the series as the reviews of the successors were not good. But I am happy that they made reference to these movies. And this time no flashbacks!

The production design and visuals (gore and blood) were genuine for the viewer to believe. The traps are quite forgettable this time but the twists and turns were very good as I didn't see that coming in the end.

An attempt being made by the directors to make it comparable with the first two installments. Though there are some flaws in the middle, but the ending justified the shortcomings!

Worth your money!

I was never a huge fan of the Saw series. I enjoyed the first one which I thought personally was a pretty excellent horror movie. However after the first film, which did have a nice theme about life, the Saw films became more and more gore over substance. In the sequels the only major factor for these films to exist were the violent traps. We had the alleged Final Chapter in 2010, but when there is a chance for the franchise to make money again, I guess it wasn't. This installment I will say is the best Saw sequel we have had up to this point (which really doesn't say much). Years after the events of the previous chapter, the Jigsaw killer has returned. However is it John Kramer or not? This is the question that the main characters of the film try to answer. However the plot is so uninteresting but also confusing, especially when keeping in mind the other chapters. I will say though continuity has never been a strength of the Saw films. The characterizations were also unimaginative, and had nothing to say. They weren't even interesting. So we have a murder mystery without a compelling story, uninteresting characters and no interesting ideas. The film doesn't even have the luxury of offering any scares. Yea sure there were the easy jump scares, but I was never shivering when seeing this. The traps are also not that gruesome, so even in that category it fails. The only thing I will say about this film is that everyone is trying. The direction is somewhat competent, all the actors are trying (some work, some don't) and they try to take Saw back to the roots of the original.

Even though people rarely admit it, the 'Saw' series has been one of the highest quality horror series ever made. 'Jigsaw' is the eighth entry in the series and there is still yet to be a bad film made amongst them. Some are undoubtedly better than others, but I defy you to point me out one that is inherently bad. I also defy you to show me another horror series (even any type of series at all is rare) that has maintained quality across that many films. That's why I was so happy that 'Jigsaw' was a brilliant movie, because if they had come back seven years later only to put forward a bad film for the sake of making money it would have ruined everything. Luckily that was not the case though.

While this one does follow the formula used in all the past films, it also feels quite unique in a number of ways. The original seven films were all set within a very tight time-frame. This one of course is pushing ten years into the future. This adds layers of intrigue to the proceedings, because how could 'Jigsaw' be committing these crimes when he died all those years back? And you just know they're going to have a brilliant answer to that question.

As far as the traps go in this one, I'm not too sure how I feel. None of them were bad, however none of them really blew me away either. My favourite one (without giving away any spoilers) was actually the most simple one in the film involving a gun. The psychology behind that one is what I loved. I love when these films aren't afraid to be intelligent.

The twist in this one also caught me completely off-guard. I've heard people say they weren't entirely convinced by it and felt that the film cheated, however I disagree. Nothing is off limits coming in a 'Saw' movie. You have to know that going in. Altogether I absolutely loved this film and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is in anyway interested in the genre.

How can you guarantee that your movie will leave as many people disappointed as possible? You create a sequel to what was an amazing franchise and then create something so kitch, so tasteless, a movie that leaves the audience struggling to relate because you put no effort into making anything of the movie even a little bit believable. I strongly believe these kinds of lazy productions should be discouraged. The bar for what gets screened is already way too low as it is.

I kind of liked Jigsaw. It's almost a bit of a reboot/legacy sequel, and functions like a decent one early on. As it gets into its final half-hour, it begins to feel like a more traditional Saw sequel, for better or worse. It gets ludicrous when it tries to tie itself more to those past sequels, heading away from the reboot route, but those Saw sequels could also be stupidly fun when they continue trying to justify their existence. I guess that leaves Jigsaw functioning as an alright reboot, until it comes - by this series' standards - a good enough sequel.

I'm sure things would fall apart upon closer inspection, but the movie's fun in the moment and satisfies in the ways some of those older ones did. I don't think it's anywhere near a low point for Saw as a whole, and I did quite like the fact this one looked like an actual movie. Some of those past Saw movies looked terrible and cheap, outside the gory special effects (even those weren't always perfect), but this one's visually sharper and looks like it had more of a budget. Of course, if you prefer these movies looking grungier/sludgier, then that could be an element that proves to detract from this.

When a string of dead bodies begin to manifest themselves, the police and a small team of doctors begin to investigate. However, when both doctors and police begin to look in to things further all the evidence points to John Kramer being the suspect despite him seemingly being dead for 10 years...

Like everything that preceded it, Jigsaw is a fun entry you meet the usual antagonists...or are they protagonists??? They all have to face off in Jigsaw's fun house (oddly enough Pat Sharpe is nowhere to be seen on this occasion). Although it's the usual shlock that you'll have seen in the earlier films if you bear with this one then it does have a point and has a story to tell...

One negative, which plagues a lot of these Saw films is the general unlikeability of its leading actors; did you once care for any of these people?? If the answer is No then neither did I... I understand that a lot of Saw films are set up this way, but with this one I really struggled connecting to the characters.

It's also fair to say that the Saw films strain plot credibility, but this one really pushes the boundaries and may make you think "What the hey" Well if it did it for you then it did it for me.

Anyway all joking aside it was nice to see everything tied together here and I have to admit that I was never bored whilst watching this film.

It's a decent ride, but the franchise is skating on thin ice by now. I'm curious about the new film Saw X to see where things are going here, but I'm starting to think that the franchise is getting a bit long in the tooth by now so won't be setting my hopes too high with the latest film.

This is worth a look for the fans, but as with everything that proceeded it if you're watching it then keep your expectations on the low side.