Movies in Review: "Jigsaw"

Has anyone been missing the Saw franchise? After 7 movies, was it really necessary to continue with this madness? I mean, I loved the 1st film, the 2nd...meh. I think I also loved the 3rd or 4th film, but seriously only about 3 out of 7 were great, the rest were just ok at best, and were definitely far reaching after a while. When you love a franchise you never want it to end. I was happy when Saw ended, and now wondering why continue it. I never watched a trailer for the film, only seeing the theatrical poster. I know John Kramer (Jigsaw) died in the final film, so how were they supposed to keep this story going? This was probably the only reason I stepped foot into the theater to see this film. That and I also figured if they were continuing the story, they might have some better torture methods than seen in the previous films. This would definitely make this new franchise worth seeing...right?

So the movie played out like it usually does, with the start of the game. As we follow the story and watch the players get tortured and killed 1 by 1, we never really find out the full story as to why they were chosen and how the game came about until the very end. This is a part of the film I actually like, when the story is pieced together at the end. However the movie failed in the torture category. There was really nothing exciting about the torture methods this time, nothing that made me cringe like in previous films. The game was just ho-hum, and started and ended that way. I don't see a reason to continue past this first film if there is nothing that really separates it from the earlier films. The fact that John Kramer is no longer around really dampers the story even more...eh.

I didn't hate the film, but it had nothing new to offer, just more unknown actors/actresses getting chopped up. I think it would help this movie if they stepped up to at least B-list actor/actresses...ijs. Also, if they don't step up their torture game I don't see this franchise lasting past the 2nd film...C