The Horror Show
Jigsaw
by Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
It’s been several years since the Saw franchise has graced us with its presence during the Halloween season. When I’d first heard that the series was getting a reboot, I was ecstatic. Love it or hate it, you have to give it up to James Wan and Leigh Whannell for creating a unique and lovable serial killer for a new generation.
In Jigsaw, Kramer has been dead for a decade and the buzz around the Jigsaw killer has all but disappeared from the world. (Save for the obsessed loons online that worship him and collect the traps he’s made.) The film starts us off with a high-speed chase that results with a man on a rooftop shouting about how it’s either “them or me!” Police take the man down and he’s placed in a medically induced coma, frustrating detectives as the coma will now hinder their work. Soon after, a group of five people wake up with buckets on their heads and chains around their necks. The voice of the long dead John Kramer fills the room and explains why they’re there. You know the drill. Live or die, make your choice, do you wanna play a game, yada yada yada.
The plot of Jigsaw stays true to the formula of Saw movies before it. Our unwilling players in the killer’s game must play by the rules or suffer the consequences and all the while detectives race against the clock to figure out not only who is doing this, but where. As always, the plot thickens and red herrings are thrown into the mix, but ultimately this was a great addition to the franchise. You don’t walk into the theater expecting an academy award winning film when you go to see a Saw movie. You go in expecting to see people fail at redeeming themselves in a John Kramer puzzle that results in murder and mayhem with a super fun ending that puts all elements of the plot into perspective.
Do I have my complaints? Sure, I do. I don’t think a single Saw film aside from the first two and The Final Chapter were perfect. However, that being said, I feel like Jigsaw was super mellowed out in the death and gore department. Perhaps the writers wanted to take a different approach since the franchise has received criticism as being “torture porn,” but I have to disagree. There’s a world that was built within this franchise and that world requires gratuitous amounts of violence and egregious suffering up until the very end. The other way this film disappointed me was that there was no throwback or mention of the “Cult of Saw” from the last film, just some lame website where people talk about how big their boners for John Kramer are.
The plot did stay true to the formula though, and that was the redeeming factor in this new addition to the franchise. I genuinely enjoyed the ending and hope to see more films in the future to continue showcasing our new John Kramer protégé’s work. (Relax, that was not a spoiler, John Kramer’s dead, ya dummies!) When rebooting a series, you’re never going to get everything right, so I can forgive the lack of torture, but I fully expect the next Saw film to return to its roots. Also, bring back Cary Elwes, or at least one of his buddies from the cult. Please. I’m asking nicely.
If you love this franchise like I do, then you’ve probably already given this film a watch. If not, do you want to play a game? The game is called, watch Jigsaw as soon as you get the chance.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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