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.)

Despite the last SAW movie being called "The Final Chapter" 2017 brought us yet another addition to the franchise and it's a real mixed bag.

I think the SAW series started off very well, they showed real promise were clever well constructed movies but alas alike so many other horror franchises it got milked into mediocrity.

The movies gradually got worse and worse and they felt desperate, blatant cash ins and it was such a shame that such a franchise had become tarnished. These things need to know when to call it a day and SAW didn't.

So here we have another game, another spate of killings in gruesome fashion but this time it looks like Jigsaw is really back from the grave!

Sprinkled with good ideas Jigsaw is certainly an improvement on other recent efforts and delivers a few twists along the way. It doesn't however come close to the dizzying heights of the first few films.

I'd advise fans of the franchise give this a go but truly believe that this should be the last. Let SAW die before it becomes another franchise whose credibility is gone because it's creators didn't know when to stop.

The Good:

Passable twist

Tobin Bell

The Bad:

Still not coming close to its origins

Essentially more of the same

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I still love Jigsaws style and struggle to see him as an antagonist

Prior to watching 'Jigsaw', as part of my wanting to see as many 2017 films as possible during a much needed quiet period after five years of intensive, richly rewarding but at times stressful music college studying, the previous seven 'Saw' films were watched to know what to expect and having heard so much about the franchise.

The franchise is somewhat variable in quality, the problematic but very well done first film being the best and the best sequels being the second and sixth. The third film didn't do much for me, the fourth film left me on the fence while the fifth and 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' were severe let downs. Will go out on a limb, and am not sure how controversial an opinion it is, saying that after seeing 'Jigsaw' that it is generally one of the series' best and perhaps the best since the first.

'Jigsaw' is not perfect certainly and the problems here are apparent in the previous films too. The editing is sloppy. The characters are one-dimensional with incomplete character arcs. The story does have logic and credulity issues (like the rest of the 'Saw' films did, including the original),with a few strands not particularly well rounded off. The script, sometimes tight and intriguing while half-baked and cheesy in others, and the acting, with a chilling Tobin Bell and an assured Laura Vandervoort coming off very well and others being bland, are uneven.

However, 'Jigsaw', editing aside, doesn't look too bad at all, to me it's one of the better-looking 'Saw' films and a far cry from the shoddiness of 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter's' production values. It's claustrophobic, elaborate and very atmospheric, with a creepy production design and some of the series' most polished direction helping a lot. The music is suitably eerie.

Despite its ridiculousness, the story is also edge-of-your-seat and highly atmospheric. There is genuine dread, some truly imaginative traps and kills and much of it throughout is disturbing and creepy. It's gruesome but not gratuitously or over-reliantly so. While structurally it's pretty much more of the same, there is enough freshness to stop 'Jigsaw' from feeling tired and like the series had run out of juice, a vibe that a few of the previous sequels gave off. The turns the film takes are clever if not exactly bold, and the spectacularly chilling ending is one of the series' best and most memorable, saying a lot seeing as most of the films do not have good endings (with the exceptions of the first, 'Saw VI' and this). Jigsaw himself still fascinates with enough of what sets him apart as a character.

Overall, Jigsaw is back in one of the series' better outings. 7/10 Bethany Cox