Jigsaw movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS JIGSAW JUST ANOTHER ROUND OF TORTURE, TWISTS AND TRAPS?
There’s third-act twists, torturous traps and brutal deaths, meaning Jigsaw doesn’t break its clichéd formula. But what’s here to enjoy is its change in direction, its new cinematic look, and some of the performances.
Storyline
The police are left at dead end when bodies begin mysteriously turning up around the city, all who have met with a grisly fate. But as their investigation continues, the evidence points to John Kramer as their prime suspect, the man known as the Jigsaw killer who’s been dead for over 10 years.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig
Cast: Hannah Emily Anderson, Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein, Brittany Allen, Tobin Bell, Matt Passmore, Callum Keith Rennie
Writer: Josh Stolberg, Peter Goldfinger
Release Date (Australia): 2 November 2017
Runtime: 92 minutes/1h 32m
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
Thematic material includes torture, self-mutilation, murder, autopsy scenes, a woman dying as a result of an asthma attack and references to the murder of an infant.
The film contains bloody depictions of shootings, stabbings, impalement, gory wound and injury detail, a man’s leg being sliced with wire, and another man’s head being cut with lasers.
The film contains use of the words “f**k”, “s**t”, “ass” and “bitch”.
The film contains mild drug references.
The breasts on a woman’s corpse are briefly viewed.
The film contains mild verbal sexual references.
mpaa rating
R (for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, and for language)
Aussie boy's thoughts
We still get our typical Saw plot of five strangers awakening in a room for a series of clever traps, but this one sheds more focus on the detectives and medical examiners. The franchise has been offering another single Saw movie each year from 2004 to 2010 before taking a seven year break and returning with Jigsaw, and it’s fair to say that a fair bit has been changed between this instalment and the first seven movies.
So what’s happening in the eighth Saw movie? Well, dead mutilated bodies are turning up around the city and this leaves the police at dead end. Also, there’s a new group of people are being put to the test with a series of sadistic games. Fans will be completely familiar with this movie. After all, it’s pretty much the same plot as the rest of the Saw movies; there’s a police story and an escape room story both occurring at the same time. Unfortunately, there’s still a few flaws from the previous films present in this movie, such as convolution within the plot and not all of the twists landing smoothly.
But Jigsaw feels much more fresh and cinematic, which is why the issues and plot holes are mostly passable. We have new-to-the-franchise directors Michael and Peter Spierig, as well as a fresh new cast with the exception of Tobin Bell whose role isn’t as major as it was before. Generally speaking though, most of the performances are actually quite solid; the characters have good chemistry with each other, which makes it feel more realistic.
Some more changes this movie takes that makes it very easy to differentiate between its predecessors however, would be the decreased extremity of gore, who and where the spotlight is on the most, and the direction. Jigsaw is probably the best-looking and most updated in quality when you compare it with the rest of the Saw movies, mainly due to the big gap in between them all. The cinematography and production design are better than ever. The traps also feel very authentic, but there’s a big restraint on the violence depicted in the film, because it’s nowhere near as over-the-top gory as the previous Saws. Overall though, if you’re a Saw fan and the investigation aspect is part of your enjoyment for these films, you’ll probably like Jigsaw.
Thank you for reading this page and for more Aussie Boy reviews, visit Aussieboyreviews.com.