In the latest terrifying installment of the legendary SAW series, law enforcement find itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that’s only just begun. Has John Kramer, the infamous Jigsaw Killer, returned from the dead to commit a series of murders and remind the world to be grateful for the gift of life? Or is this a trap set by a different killer with designs of their own?
Ten years after John Kramer (Tobin Bell) aka Jigsaw, was supposed to have died, a new game has begun. As each of the five people in the game die, their bodies are discovered elsewhere, with evidence that Jigsaw lives. The rule to this game is pretty simple: confess your sin and you’ll be saved. Naturally, no one in the game wants to admit to any wrongdoing and so, they must play out the game until the end, or their end.
Meanwhile, crooked detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) and Dr Nelson (Matt Passmore) and his assistant Eleanor (Hannah Emily Anderson) are following clues to figure out who is really behind the game. Halloran is being investigated by Internal Affairs for murder and corruption and Eleanor is so obsessed with Jigsaw that she has recreated all of his machines in a secret studio. Obviously, both are top suspects.
Inside the game, we have five people who are guilty of something. One by one they fail their games because they haven’t admitted to their crimes. At some point you would think they would learn and just spill the beans, but they say nothing and die for it.
The film itself wasn’t terrible, though it wasn’t great. The one thing I really liked was that this was the first time in several films that the story took precedence over the shock value and gore. The games weren’t designed to make you cringe, but to make you think; however, this is where we segue into what I didn’t like about the film.
The games that were designed to make you think were predictable. In fact, almost everything about the film was predictable. You could tell what each persons crimes were before Jigsaw revealed them and the killer was incredibly obvious to me from almost the start. While almost everyone was being focused on as a suspect, one person managed to escape suspicion, making it obvious that they were the guilty party. The ending did reveal why, but in a lazy and rushed way that took away from the integrity of the story.
All in all, Jigsaw wasn’t the worst of the series, but it certainly wasn’t the best.
Bonus Features include:
· Audio Commentary with Producers Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Peter Block
· “I Speak for the Dead: The Legacy of Jigsaw” 7-Part Documentary
- “A New Game”
- “You Know His Name”
- “Survival of the Fittest”
- “Death by Design”
- “Blood Sacrifice”
- “The Source of Fear”
- “The Truth Will Set You Free”
- “The Choice is Yours: Exploring the Props” Featurette
DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES
- “I Speak for the Dead: The Legacy of Jigsaw” 7-Part Documentary
- “A New Game”
- “You Know His Name”
- “Survival of the Fittest”
- “Death by Design”
- “Blood Sacrifice”
- “The Source of Fear”
- “The Truth Will Set You Free”
- “The Choice is Yours: Exploring the Props” Featurette
