Weekly Film - Jigsaw

The Return of Saw

The wait for this film has been extremely long for me. Whatever possessed me to order the DVD instead of go to see this film in cinema is a mystery to me. But here I am 4 long months after the films release and I finally have my copy of Jigsaw. I have somehow justified my DVD purchase to myself by watching every last second of special features and behind the scenes interviews as well as re-watching the entire film with directors commentary, which did make me feel better about my decision. I should start by clarifying that I am a huge Saw fan and despite the gradually declining quality of the films I have remained loyal to the series, perhaps in the hopes that they would find a way to emulate the brilliance of the first film. I plan to go into quite a bit of detail here but I'll try to keep this from being too much of a drag to read.

First things first I feel I should give a brief synopsis of the story of Jigsaw for those unfamiliar with the series. The original films focused on John Kramer otherwise knows as the Jigsaw killer as well as his accomplices who continued his legacy after his death in the third instalment ,a decision that was made because Saw 3 was meant to be the last however the series carried on for 4 more films (5 if you include Jigsaw) and was clearly regretted as his character has appeared via flashbacks and video tapes in all the other films. The unique selling point of the story is that Kramer never kills anyone but instead places his victims in "games" that are winnable but only through extreme personal sacrifice and torment. The victims are often criminals or immoral people who have never been punished for their actions and so the killer takes this into his own hands placing them in traps that often have metaphorical links to the persons crimes. It should also be noted that each film has a twist at the end which ties everything in the film together. All these aspects are present in each film and Jigsaw is no different in this regard.

Jigsaw Trailer

Anyway in this instalment the film takes a bit of a different approach in many regards. The film shifts away from the green and rusty colour palette of the previous films and instead replaces it with a blue colour palette as well as giving the traps a cleaner more modern and sterile approach. The colour change is very noticeable as the green made Saw very recognisable as well as creating this atmosphere of uncleanliness and dysfunction. The traps used to be covered in rust and looked likethey barely worked. The idea of the rusty metal breaking and causing injury or even the fact that the rust showed the makeshift nature of the traps was brilliant. These new sterile looking traps are much less scary to look not to mention that they make no sense to the story, something I will cover in my list of things that make no sense in Jigsaw. There are also far more outside scenes which give the world a more open feel. This is actually a change that I dislike. All the previous films showed very little outside which gave a very claustrophobic feel to the films which worked greatly in its favour. This made the audience feel almost as if they were trapped in with the victims. By opening up the world it relaxes the audience which I feel loses some of the suspense. Its clear that this was very deliberate as the directors mention it in the special features. Perhaps it was done to make the film feel more like a thriller than the previous films. It is clear throughout that the film is trying to be more like a crime thriller with more scenes focusing on the police investigation rather than the game itself. There is also the element of whodunit as for the first time since the first film it is unknown to the viewer who is setting up the game. Is it a disciple of Jigsaw or is it a copycat killer? Both of these ideas are teased throughout. This addition of the crime thriller genre is certainly a refreshing change and is something that kept me drawn to the story rather than just the gore and interesting traps.

These show the blue theme in Jigsaw

In contrast this shows the green theme of the previous films

Speaking of the traps it's hardly something I can ignore since they are the foundation of this franchises success as well as its gory reputation. The gore in this film is definitely a step back from the torture porn of the last few Saw films but its still quite gory compared to the first film. This was done to not only focus more on the story but to also make the film easier to stomach for newer audiences. If I were to rank the films on gore from least gory to most gory it would go Saw, Saw 2, Saw 3, Saw 5, Saw 4, Jigsaw, Saw 7 and Saw 6. Despite being rather gory I didn't find the gore to be as effective in some scenes due to the use of CGI where lots of the other films would've used practical effects. Naturally CGI just doesn't have the shock factor of practical effects especially compared to some of the rather dodgy CGI used in this film. One of the scenes where this is particularly obvious is where one character pulls a lever to cut off his own leg with a wire in order to save his teammates from a silo where many dangerous objects are being dropped on them. I'll put the scene here below.

Not only are the falling blades CGI which is completely unnecessary but the cut off leg itself is also CGI. This kind of affect was achieved so much better in previous films using practical effects such as this scene titles the angel trap from Saw 3.

Comparing these side by side makes it clear that practical effects are far more effective.

Although this isn't to say that all traps used obvious CGI. The Spiralizer is by far the films strongest trap and despite using some CGI the practical effects clearly outweigh this.

The Spiralizer/Cycle Trap

I'd like to briefly analyse this scene and the elements that make it so good. The cinematography is very hectic with many cuts between the 2 actors on screen. This combined with the violently spinning spiral blades makes the scene rather tense and almost stressful to watch. Many close ups show the intricate workings of the trap as well as the reactions on the characters faces. The music in this scene is much more thrashing and metal style then in any other scene in the film. This is done not just for the sake of tension but also because this style of music is well associated with motorbikes and motorbike culture which is appropriate as the trap is powered by a motorbike. The motor bike engine roar is loud and threatening throughout the scene and combines with the music to act almost like a racing pulse for the scene. The scenes pace quickly picks up as the trap is revealed and the bike starts slowly spinning up the blades. Once the blades begin to spin the music kicks in to accompany the threat signalling to the audience that the danger to the character is very real. This combined with the excellent body double make this by far my favourite scene in the film.

The critical response for the film was rather mediocre receiving just 34% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 39/100 on Metacritic. However audience responses were overall more positive with it receiving 6.1/10 by users on Metacritic as well as 91% of viewers liking the film on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film is likely to spawn even more sequels as despite its critical reception it made $103 million on its £10 million budget. Which is still less than the first film which made $104 million on its mere $1.2 million budget. Jigsaw was a relative success despite being the second worst selling Saw film only beating Saw 6 which despite being one of the best in the franchise made $70 million on its $11 million budget due to people being put off by the unpopular Saw 5.

Overall the film met my expectations and I was even pleasantly surprised at parts. Hopefully the inevitable future sequels fall back more on practical effects once more.