Seven years later, we have another Halloween where a movie in the Saw franchise has graced us with its presence. Only, this time we have new directors at the helm—namely the Spierig Brothers. Despite his character dying in the 3rd movie, Tobin Bell returns as John Kramer. Don’t worry though, his return does make sense in the end (I won’t explain how). Also, he is joined in the main cast by Matt Passmore, Callum Keith Rennie, Clé Bennett, Hannah Emily Anderson, Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein and Mandela Van Peebles.
This movie follows two interlocking plot lines. One involves five people being trapped inside a farm, finding themselves as pawns in John Kramer’s game. This, of course, involves various brutal traps (with each of them progressively dying throughout).
Meanwhile, there is another plotline that seemingly adds a noir-like feel. This involves two detectives and two coroners trying to catch who they believe is a Jigsaw copycat. The bodies of the latest victims keep turning up in very public places. The plot thickens when the assistant coroner is revealed to be obsessed with the Jigsaw killer, even owning replicas of many of the traps.
Now, how does this movie hold up, you might ask? I enjoyed it, but more to the early sequels than the original. Of course, being a Saw movie, the film has some very gory death scenes. Admittedly, these can be a bit much, so the horror aspect of the movie wasn’t as interesting as that of the mystery. I felt that the non-horror aspect of the film would have been great on its own—if it wasn’t for that pesky horror.
Also, this movie deserves praise for its cinematography. This is especially true at night, where the Spierig Brothers make wonderful use of lighting.
In review, I felt Jigsaw was entertaining and may actually be my favorite of the Saw sequels. However, it’s still not as good as the first. The movie falls under the “good but not great” category, so I give it three out of five stars.