Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Jigsaw Blu-ray Movie Review

As times go by.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 22, 2018

Note: A couple of passing allusions in the plot summary might be considered spoiler material, though any fan of the Saw franchise will probably already know a couple of putative "surprises" Jigsaw has up its bloody sleeve. That said, those wanting to avoid such mentions are encouraged to skip down to the technical portions of the review, below.

The relatively recent phenomenon of “escape rooms” as entertainment venues where customers buy tickets and then have a set amount of time to figure out of how to get out of a themed locked space was frankly unknown to me until late last year, when one such enterprise in Portland hired me to produce some music for an event of theirs. While I'm sure many younger, hipper types are completely up to speed on escape rooms, I wonder if at least some of those cognoscenti would have drawn the same through line that I did to another perhaps inexplicable cultural phenomenon — the Saw franchise. Part of Saw’s whole appeal, at least in its earlier formulations, was the aspect of seeing a coterie of characters in a confined space desperately trying to get out of that space by solving various challenges presented to them. Jigsaw is a kinda sorta reboot of the Saw franchise after a seven year hiatus that had seen annual releases culminating in Saw: The Final Chapter 3D, which (as I more or less hinted in my Saw: The Final Chapter 3D Blu- ray review), we all pretty much knew was not going to be “the final chapter”. But one of the most interesting things about Jigsaw, and one which was an intentional strategy on the part of the creative crew, is that it is not cloistered in the same way that many of the previous Saw films have been, and in fact it gets “out and about” a good deal of the time. Of course there are still a coterie of folks chained, tethered, roped and/or otherwise trapped in a series of “games” orchestrated by the titular Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), who this reboot kind of cheekily (and perhaps even trickily) suggests may not have had his own "final chapter" just yet.

While the phenomenon of escape rooms reminded me of Saw, Jigsaw actually reminded me of a perhaps surprising cinematic precursor, the iconic Agatha Christie mystery And Then There Were None. Both Jigsaw and Christie’s legendary piece feature “secret vigilantes” out to enforce justice, choosing supposed sinners who need to be punished for their sins. Even the “reveal” of And Then There Were None is aped in a way in Jigsaw, with a character thought to be dead miraculously resurrected to become the hidden instigator of all the carnage that has gone before.

There’s a bit of subterfuge at hand in Jigsaw which isn’t revealed until the closing vignette of the film, where an almost laughably verbose “Moishe the Explainer” moment arrives courtesy of that aforementioned resurrected character (whose identity won’t be spoiled here). Suffice it to say that while the “game” aspects of Jigsaw are resolutely in the template already established by the franchise, things are not exactly what they appear to be (or perhaps more appropriately when they appear to be), leading to a supposed “twist” that is obviously meant to establish the foundation for a new, improved (?) set of Saw films.

What’s at least a bit unusual about Jigsaw, though, is how it ventures outside of the isolated game vignettes to detail an actual, honest to goodness world beyond the machinations of John Kramer. That includes a kind of ping ponging aspect where the game interludes are interrupted by the continuing investigations of police mortician (?) Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) and Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie), who are tasked with investigating what appears to be a Kramer/Jigsaw copycat (since the police are initially under the assumption that Jigsaw has in fact expired). When one of the victims ends up having Kramer’s blood under their fingernails, the mystery seems to be approaching supernatural levels.

In terms of the victims, they’re the typical Saw array of duplicitous types, and despite the attempts by co-writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger to inject some “character” into these characters, that’s what they remain — types. The exhaustive making of documentary included on this Blu-ray has some of the creative staff insisting that they sent out to make a film that wasn’t just a “blood and guts fest”, but there are some spectacularly gory images in Jigsaw which will probably delight a certain niche of the franchise’s fan base. Interestingly, some of the most graphic material actually tends to revolve around Nelson’s poking and prodding of various corpses delivered to his lab, as he searches for clues. There’s one especially disturbing image of a head that has had its front half sawed off that directors the Spierig Brothers seem to revel in keeping in the frame for an extended period of time.

Jigsaw Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jigsaw is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Shot with Arri Alexas and finished at a 2K DI, this is by and large and very precise, sharp and well detailed looking presentation, something that's especially notable considering the fact that so much of the film plays out in dimly lit and/or shadowy environments. Fine detail is almost stomach churning at times, especially with regard to up close and personal looks at corpses and/or wounds on still living victims. As seems to be unavoidable in thrillers or horror films these days, many scenes have been fairly aggressively graded toward blue or slate gray tones, and these are about the only times where detail levels can lapse. Kind of refreshingly for a Saw film, Jigsaw gets outside at least a few times, and in these moments detail levels are generally very impressive, with some wide vistas offering good depth of field. There are no issues with image instability and no compression anomalies to report.

Jigsaw Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jigsaw features a nicely inventive sounding Dolby Atmos track, one which gets out of the gate with a spectacular car crash and then quite a bit of cacophony as a frankly tangential character interacts with a bunch of cops. Once the film moves into the "games" section, there are the traditionally goofy but typically very enjoyable use of sound effects, in this case including everything from buzzing saws (you expected anything less?) to the rattle of chains to, later, some frankly disturbing sounds of wires slicing through flesh or even gunfire. The surround channels are almost always in play in this mix, and immersion is therefore near constant. Dialogue, effects and score are all prioritized smartly on this very enjoyable track.

Jigsaw Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Producers Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Peter Block


• I Speak for the Dead: The Legacy of Jigsaw Documentary (1080p; 1:21:56) is an exceptionally well done multi-part feature length documentary, and I say that as someone who has never been a real Saw franchise fan. This gets into some of the desires of this "reboot" team to both tether the film to its predecessors as well as find a new way forward, but it covers the entire franchise with a number of really interesting interviews.


• The Choice is Yours: Exploring the Props (1080p; 6:27) is a fun if too brief tour with property master Rick Little Darling (who wins my personal award for best name of a property master).

Jigsaw Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Despite not really being a fan of the Saw franchise, I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised by Jigsaw up until the final few minutes, when a spectacularly ill advised scene with a "Moishe the Explainer" type throws what little logic the film has had up to then to the wind, in a blatant attempt to set this franchise up for another eight films. This is an interesting effort that may actually split longtime Saw fans (no pun intended), since I'm not sure everyone will cotton to this film's attempts to have its cake and eat it, too, with regard to linking itself to the former films while also trying to forge a new, separate identity. Technical merits are first rate for those considering a purchase, and I'd have to say even those without an overt interest in Saw may find the multi-part documentary on this release worth checking out.