Wait. Was this PG-13? It sure felt like it was and Expendable.
The most positive thing I could say about Part Eight of the Saw franchise is that the crew knew what made the latter part of the series' memorable: flashbacks, twists, bad acting and terrible dialogue.
Maybe it was a hindrance that I decided to spend the entire 7 days prior to Jigsaw's release watching one Saw movie a day. Maybe I was sawed out.
In a series that I originally thought got progressively worse, I found a little comfort in how closely tied the first seven were. It did feel like one long (approx.) 11-hour miniseries and, yeah, that did make the series feel complete. And when it was over, it needed to be over. I was glad it was over.
Speaking of over, this is absolute overkill, only less on the killing. It was so mild, so held-back, my original positive turns into a negative whereas the creators forgot how much blood there should be.
Basically, it's 10 years later and immediately as the movie opens, the game begins again. As in Saw-lore, the movie shifts from the cop side to a Jigsaw game.
Will there be twists? Sure, but you predict them from the start. Will there be red herrings? Of course, but like the twists, you'll know who's behind this. Will there be redemption? Well, not for the series.
The games played were enormously lame, the tired setups seem ancient and the gore factor was so dialed back, I thought I was watching the most gruesome scenes from the "vampire" movie, Twilight. Extremely minor things were updated (new technology – sort of – from the last outings,) but barely anything was new or brought in to refresh the series. Well, except laughs.
Some of the traps were so hilariously bad, I seriously couldn't figure out if that was intentional or not. Perhaps they were meant as jokes to poke fun at their own series as the characters did constantly mock the designs as well. (If this was the case, then I will give them credit for that.)
This movie did have potential, but it felt like it was written as quickly as the previously 1-per-year scripts. Only, this time they had 7 years to come up with something! They just blew it with a rehash of one of the worst in the original seven.
I wouldn't recommend seeing Saw: Legacy, er, I mean, Saw VIII, um, Jigsaw!
***
Final thoughts: After my Sawathon, here's how they rank:
1. Saw (★★★★/5 Stars.)
2. Saw II (★★★★/5 Stars.)
3. Saw III (★★★½/5 Stars.)
4. Saw VI (★★★/5 Stars.)
5. Saw IV (★★★/5 Stars.)
6. Saw V (★★½/5 Stars.)
7. Saw 3D (★★/5 Stars.)
8. Jigsaw (★½/5 Stars.)
The most positive thing I could say about Part Eight of the Saw franchise is that the crew knew what made the latter part of the series' memorable: flashbacks, twists, bad acting and terrible dialogue.
Maybe it was a hindrance that I decided to spend the entire 7 days prior to Jigsaw's release watching one Saw movie a day. Maybe I was sawed out.
In a series that I originally thought got progressively worse, I found a little comfort in how closely tied the first seven were. It did feel like one long (approx.) 11-hour miniseries and, yeah, that did make the series feel complete. And when it was over, it needed to be over. I was glad it was over.
Speaking of over, this is absolute overkill, only less on the killing. It was so mild, so held-back, my original positive turns into a negative whereas the creators forgot how much blood there should be.
Basically, it's 10 years later and immediately as the movie opens, the game begins again. As in Saw-lore, the movie shifts from the cop side to a Jigsaw game.
Will there be twists? Sure, but you predict them from the start. Will there be red herrings? Of course, but like the twists, you'll know who's behind this. Will there be redemption? Well, not for the series.
The games played were enormously lame, the tired setups seem ancient and the gore factor was so dialed back, I thought I was watching the most gruesome scenes from the "vampire" movie, Twilight. Extremely minor things were updated (new technology – sort of – from the last outings,) but barely anything was new or brought in to refresh the series. Well, except laughs.
Some of the traps were so hilariously bad, I seriously couldn't figure out if that was intentional or not. Perhaps they were meant as jokes to poke fun at their own series as the characters did constantly mock the designs as well. (If this was the case, then I will give them credit for that.)
This movie did have potential, but it felt like it was written as quickly as the previously 1-per-year scripts. Only, this time they had 7 years to come up with something! They just blew it with a rehash of one of the worst in the original seven.
I wouldn't recommend seeing Saw: Legacy, er, I mean, Saw VIII, um, Jigsaw!
***
Final thoughts: After my Sawathon, here's how they rank:
1. Saw (★★★★/5 Stars.)
2. Saw II (★★★★/5 Stars.)
3. Saw III (★★★½/5 Stars.)
4. Saw VI (★★★/5 Stars.)
5. Saw IV (★★★/5 Stars.)
6. Saw V (★★½/5 Stars.)
7. Saw 3D (★★/5 Stars.)
8. Jigsaw (★½/5 Stars.)