Movie Review: Jigsaw (2017)

[Please note: there are very minor spoilers for both this and previous films.]

The eighth and now supposedly final movie in the Saw franchise, Jigsaw was directed by The Spierig Brothers (Undead, Daybreakers, Predestination – all much better movies that this) and released in late 2017. Ten years after the death of John Kramer, aka the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), five supposed strangers are placed into deadly games where it is unlikely they will finish alive. Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore), a forensic pathologist, must work with Police Detectives Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) and Hunt (Clé Bennett) in order to track down the victims, and stop the Jigsaw killings from continuing.

+ I find these traps to be hilarious. I’m a sucker for some good gore, so seeing these idiots killed off in “horrible” ways just tickles my fancy like little else

– lots of the traps seemed awfully convenient, even when the players did the exact opposite of what they were told. It is amazing that Jigsaw would set up so many videos and tape recorders for every possible outcome, especially since Jigsaw has apparently been dead for ten years now
– the entire plot, particularly the now expected, super-duper-mega-twist ending creates more plot holes from the previous films, regarding timing and who, if anyone (at various points, there has been Amanda, Detective Hoffman, Lawrence Gordon, as well as his estranged wife Jill Tuck) is currently working for/with/under Jigsaw himself
– god damn people are dumb. Here’s a MoshFish free piece of advise: if you wake up in some sort of trap that involves pulling/pushing you somewhere, don’t fight it, because it has obviously been designed to be stronger than you. Instead, look around, see who or what else is with you, and try jamming the mechanisms somehow. Sure, you’ll be killed anyway for breaking the rules, but at least you won’t be buzsawed to death

> Matt Passmore spent over ten years as a presenter on Play School. Let that sink in as you watch this.

Should you see this film: I have long considered the Saw movies a guilty pleasure, much like Final Destination, because I love watching stupid people die horribly (in fictional movies… as if I needed to clarify). This was a bad movie, with a bad plot, and unless you are already a fan of these movies, then don’t ever even bother watching past the first one.