Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Distributor: Belga Home Video
Duration: 88 minutes
Jigsaw (DVD) – Movie Review
Back in 2010 the seventh movie of the Saw series aired in theatres around the world and it was supposed to be the last chapter, as it was aptly named ‘The Final Chapter’. It seems now ,seven years later, the fans were still cheering for the blood engulfed movies of the series to return and their somewhat masochistic prayers have been heard with the release of Jigsaw, which situates itself ten years after the last Jigsaw murders orchestrated by John Kramer. We were curious to see if story prevailed in this movie, or if it would become another gory mess only a certain crowd could get into.
The movie starts off with the chase of a criminal, who holds a detonator who then demands to speak to detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie). The detective shows up, but doesn’t listen to a word the thug has to say, and they decide to use force, but only after the detonator has been pressed, starting the timer in an obscure room where five people are chained up with a feeding bucket on their head, which is connected to a thick iron collar. After a short period of waiting a very familiar voice rings through the speaker, namely the voice of the Jigsaw killer, John Kramer (Tobin Bell), who once again wants to punish those who have a guilty conscience but have never bothered to repent for their past sins.
The first of the victims of this absurd game is found hanging from a bridge in a local park, and soon after Dr. Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) is called in to perform the autopsy, with the help of his assistant Eleanor Bonneville (Hannah Emily Anderson). They soon discover a USB drive hidden in one of the victim’s wounds, and they also hear John Kramer’s announcement of the new game that is going on. Many think that the deceased murderer has risen from the dead, but surely there must be a catch. From here on out, it’s a race against time to find the other participants of the so-called game.
The flow of the movie is somewhat more of a detective story, with the necessary snippets of the ongoing ‘game’ present. It’s actually interesting that the flow of the movie has been restored to that of the very first movie in 2004, with a limited amount of blood and gore, making the story prevail, rather than all the ‘nasty business’ that was more and more present as the series progressed. It’s an interesting turn of events, but it also feels as if the series will be rebooted, especially when viewing the end of the movie, which might be milking the cow dry a tad too much for our taste. That being said, the storytelling was great in this new piece of bloodshot cinema.
With Tobin Bell’s presence it truly felt as if a new game had started in the Saw franchise, and his presence in the movie truly lifted up this new installment in the series, even though it is a reboot in a certain sense, as the gore has been reduced and a decade has passed since the last game took place. Other new faces, such as the detective and the doctor make for good opposites of one another, and they perform their roles in a great fashion, making the experience convincible. The participants all have their roles to play as well, and they play the not-so-innocent-victims decently.
It’s always amusing when a DVD comes with extras that span longer than the actual movie, at least if they’re any good. On the DVD edition of Jigsaw you’ll get audio commentaries to play when watching the movie, a very lengthy (more than an hour) making of sequence that revolves around the thought process of this ‘reboot’ of the series and a small featurette that shows us the props used for this movie, as well as some of the older films.
Conclusion
Jigsaw shows us that the Saw series is still very much alive, albeit with a slightly less gory approach than the latest films in the series. The story remains the focal point in this semi-reboot of the series, which is great for those fans who loved the original Saw movie, but found the other parts a bit too excessive in terms of blood and violence. This movie sets itself back in the Thriller genre, instead of actual horror. Old time fans who loved both the first movie and its six sequels, will certainly be able to enjoy this one as well.
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[…] 2017 Saw fans were treated to Jigsaw, a new installment of the Saw series. This new film tried to reinvent itself slightly to kickstart […]