Review: Jigsaw

Jigsaw
Cert: 18 / 92 mins / Dir. Peter Spierig & Michael Spierig / Trailer



Seven years? Blimey. It doesn't feel like that long ago that Ian Jigsaw graced our screens each year, even though when the last one was out I hadn't quite started reviewing each film I saw at the cinema. Much like a certain Orwellian house-based show from the same era, what began as an intriguing social experiment (on both the subject and the observers) quickly turned into a freak-show; gruesome attractions put on for gleeful observers*¹ with a faux-moralistic slant. As the series continued, the background plot-mechanics grew more contrived and unfeasible (not that this really matters when all you're waiting for is some poor sap get their head cut off, of course). But 'diminishing returns' is a law which applies to the just and the unjust alike, and in 2010 the series was put into stasis*² as the creators went on to more supernatural pursuits...

But years have passed, the world feels like it's changed, and maybe it's time to feel judgementally superior at watching people be murdered and mutilated for middling misdemeanours again? MARVELLOUS!

…This entry picks up ten years after the Jigsaw Killer's death, with a team of moody cops and morticians frowning against the clock to crack the case of his apparent resurgence. Meanwhile in a remote, undisclosed location, five ne'er-do-wells have unwittingly volunteered to take part in The Crystal Maze For Arseholes. Each of the captives is hiding an awful secret that they're encouraged to confess to gain freedom, and blood, sweat and tears will be spilled for every moment they hesitate. Although mainly blood. But who is really behind the gruelling assault course? Can the bickering strangers really escape by following the rules? And does it even matter when you're waiting for the claret to be spattered up the walls?

…Jigsaw is fine. Really, just fine. Engaging all the time it's running, but ultimately forgettable since the screenplay sticks so closely to the template of its forerunners. This feels like going back to your hometown years later to find that nothing's changed. At first the nostalgia is comforting, then it gives way to a creeping sense of pity. Then again, these movies are ultimately about human nature, and how much does that ever adapt? For all the grandiose posturing in resurrecting the franchise, there's still the feeling that each movie stems from a Friday-afternoon game of 'most creative death-scene' in the pub, followed by a Monday-morning 'now write them all into a screenplay'. As fun as the 92 clockpunching minutes are, I don't think there's really enough here to warrant the series' return. Then again, it's not me who'll be the ultimate judge of who's worthy to see another movie, it's the box office returns*³.

The film is funny, it's gory, it's preachy and it's cruel.
Jigsaw pushes all the right buttons, there just aren't any new buttons…

Well, the rest of the Saw films, frankly.



If you're a fan, absolutely.



Almost certainly; it's the ambition that's in question here, not the achievement.



I haven't had sufficient exposure to them all to say.



Not at all.



Not at all.



Level 2: This film stars Paul Braunstein, who also appeared in 2011's The Thing alongside Joel 'Young Uncle Owen' Edgerton.





*¹ Which is great, by the way. Absolutely nothing wrong with movies being singularly entertaining on their own terms, so long as they do it well.^{[ BACK ]}

*² Despite an upturn for the seventh and final entry, Saw 3D. ^{[ BACK ]}

*³ Although with a production-budget of just $10m, this movie will make money hand over fist anyway. ^{[ BACK ]}

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