Let the games begin. But not just ordinary games, but rather treacherous tests that determine whether someone lives or dies. It’s time when horror movies start rolling in as the bloody legacy of Saw continues with Jigsaw.  Jigsaw is the eighth installment in the Saw franchise. Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein, Mandela Peebles, Brittany Allen and Josiah Black play the victims that fall upon the cruel and murderous hands of Jigsaw. Mass Passmore and Hanna Emily Anderson play the roles of investigators. Last, but certainly not least, Tobin Bell as Jigsaw.

Several disturbing homicides emerge throughout the city that are similar to Jigsaw’s murders from the past. The detectives are left trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle to determine whether Jigsaw is alive, and where his remaining victims are. Most of the film follows five people who are trapped on a secluded farm which contains deadly devices. While they try to figure out how to survive the lethal traps, the detectives try to determine where the farm is located in an effort to end Jigsaw’s legacy.

In terms of the film’s good points, the acting was great. The audience was truly able to tell that the characters were in terror for their lives, while still being able to present some comical lines. The second best aspect of the film were the traps. They were all quite unique in comparison to the ones from the past movies. From being positioned under sand, to being lowered into a large swirling device, the traps were a great feat. It astonished me how creative and yet cruel the traps were. I never understood the odd process the director had to go through to think of them.

While directors, Michael and Peter Spierig, tried to make Jigsaw have a real story, in the end Saw is Saw and so the film was highly lacking. No matter what you try to do to make Saw seem like it has a proper plot line, it truly will never have a proper story. I can explain the plot of Jigsaw and all of its other movies in the franchise in four words: people stuck in traps. This is the Saw franchise, and all the films revolve around brutal traps. Without these traps, the franchise would never exist. The directors tried to make Jigsaw seem like he had a meaningful story, but in reality, when the traps weren’t on the screen, the viewer’s eyes weren’t there either. While I was watching the film, every time the scenes switched to the investigators trying to figure out where the Jigsaw killer was, my eyes would tend to move away from the screen. All the moments with the investigators were so plain and done several times in the previous movies.

Jigsaw made $59.5 million on a $10 million budget, so it succeeded in terms of box office numbers. Emily Yoshida, a professional movie reviewer said, “Watching Jigsaw go about his torture business is about as interesting as watching a child burn ants – a dumb and ugly waste of energy, resources and time.” Jigsaw may bring joy to the die-hard fans of the franchise, but people who aren’t Saw fans will end up bored and uninterested.