Jigsaw (2017) #464

Jigsaw Movie Trailer

After an eight year hiatus, the “Saw” franchise is back and as deadly as ever. The series was a perennial favorite around Halloween, and “Jigsaw” hit theaters in late October in 2017. The previews leading up to the film’s release teased the possible return of Jigsaw himself, even though he died as violently as some of his victims in the third film. The previous films made clever narrative choices to include the The Jigsaw killer and this film delivers an equally interesting move. At any rate, it’s great to see the charismatic Mr Tobin Bell back with his devious devices.

The film begins nearly a decade after the death of the famous Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer. So police are thoroughly confused when they corner a criminal on the run with a strange device around his neck, who tells the police that he needs to begin a new game in order to live. Before he's able to say more, he's shot down by the officers on the scene. And so begins a new series of death traps for a group of five unlucky players. Like previous installments, the chosen five are not innocent and are being taught to atone for their transgressions.

One of the attractions of the series are the different death traps that John Kramer and his associates designed and the traps in "Jigsaw" do not disappoint. There are some very clever ones this time around, and as usual, there is sometimes a deeper meaning behind them. This film also includes a character that has begun collecting the different traps that John has created; but are they the originals are merely impressive fakes?

From a narrative standpoint, "Jigsaw" is a well craft story that honors the previous films in the series. Unlike a couple of the previous films that were written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, there doesn't feel like any obvious plot points that were planted to continue the film franchise. If there was, they were more subtle like those found in the first three films. We may soon know what clues may have been left behind by "Jigsaw" writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger when  "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" premiers in 2021