credit: Jigsaw
Wondering when the Saw franchise will end, or if it will, is a common thread these days since with Jigsaw, it felt as though the torch was passed in a big way, much as it has been in previous installments. But while the brutality of the movie keeps up with the overall legend, there are a few ways in which things are going to change, especially given that John Kramer was a unique individual whose mind worked in ways that can’t be fully replicated. Still, seeing him in this movie as he went about his devilish ways of punishing those who didn’t value the lives they were given or had something to confess to had to be a trip for a lot of people, at least until they figured out the twist that’s become a normal part of the Saw movies that so many people have enjoyed. To be fair, the level of gore and intrigue is still there, but it doesn’t feel quite as over the top as a few of the other movies. It’s almost as though Jigsaw was meant to focus more on the story and less on the buckets of blood that were to come following the triggering of the first trap.
credit: Jigsaw
Like always, there’s a reason that the people in the traps were selected.
There’s always a point to the abductions, even if the traps sometimes take a bit of time to figure out or even fully understand. This movie unloaded another round of devices that were specifically designed to make people think on their toes, which isn’t always a skill that the individuals in these movies possess. To be fair, it’s tough to think straight when you’re being forced to maim yourself or figure out a way to escape what might be certain death if a decision isn’t made quickly. Trying to get your mind to work properly and figure out how to defeat or escape a trap isn’t something that many people happen to think about when they wake up in the morning. Saw does present a very strong case as to how the survival instinct of many human beings might be dulled so much that people have forgotten to react at the moment.
Each device feels as though there’s a huge amount of room for error, meaning that there might be a few MacGuffins lying about.
Seriously, knowing something about human nature is great and all, but anticipating where people will step, how they’ll react to any given stimuli, and planning so meticulously for it feels like it could go wrong very quickly and without warning. Giving credit to John Kramer and his method of thinking isn’t tough since he did make a habit of watching people in order to figure out what they might do and how they might react. But over the years, it feels as though some of these traps could have been avoided or circumvented if the people caught in them had stopped for a few seconds to think. That’s the beauty of the traps, though, John doesn’t give them a lot of time to figure out their course, and he apparently knows them better than they do themselves since each individual often makes a horrible decision rather than a smart one since the fear they’re feeling rules their actions most of the time. But still, there’s a great chance that a thinking, rational mind could defeat many of these traps.
credit: Jigsaw
Without the traps, the story becomes another thriller that might be enticing but is still not the most exciting thing around.
That happens to be the main reason that anyone watches Saw since most people are waiting to see what kind of traps Jigsaw is going to pull out of his bag with each feature. The story has become less important than the gore, which could be why some folks have turned away over the years. The combined effect of the story and the devices that are used has managed to draw in a lot of people and make loyal fans out of many of them. But the fact is that without the traps and without the blood, it’s easy to think that a lot of people might have never been turned on to this idea. The audience loves the gore and the chance to see someone being dispatched in a grisly way, no matter how ghoulish that sounds.
Overall, it wasn’t the worst of the Saw movies.
If anything is gleaned from this movie, it’s that John Kramer is a very convincing character who knows how to convert those he deems worthy of his cause. Not only does the man apparently know how to play upon the emotions of a person, but he knows how to make them believe that his methods are just and that they can produce results. When the results are vengeance, though, it’s not hard to think that those who follow in Kramer’s footsteps are kind of losing the point of why he started this mess in the first place.
These movies are about shock value at this point and less about the story.
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