Jigsaw Endgame a fanedit by Maniac and Zagadka
Blood, Gore and More Blood and Gore
Maniac and Zagadka have been at it again with a new collaboration from their twisted minds. These two need serious therapy.
Jigsaw Endgame seems to literally pickup where A History of Desperation left off. Bringing together scenes from both Saw III and Saw IV seamlessly, we are presented with Kramer’s endgame.
Jigsaw and his apprentices plan the final game teaching people to appreciate their lives as two FBI profilers help detectives suit through Jigsaw’s test and piece together the mortal puzzle.
I didn’t care for these movies when they were released. I did see a bit of genius in the writing. I think most people don’t get past the obese amount of gore that these movies throw at you to see the existential underpinnings. However, if I am to be force-fed existentialism, I’ll open my crate and get out my Skinner books and read them again.
The most depressing thing about this series is not the myriad of ways to torture but the bleak view of human nature, specifically our talent for ruining the present to avenge the past.
A point that is driven home in this edit that is quite intligent screenwriting is that Saw IV takes place during the events of Saw III (which you don’t realise until the very end). Amazingly, you learn through this edit and these two installments that the SAW timeline us literally all over the place. Minor characters return years later, and Jigsaw himself actually dies in Saw III, but that doesn’t stop him from coming back each time, without supernatural elements involved.
There are more dirty rooms, rotting flesh and elaborate torture. This time the masked sadist whose fondness for men in chains continues unabated, has decided to play marriage counselor to a couple whose young son has been killed in a car accident.
He creates a protégé in Amanda, a whack job who slices her own thighs when no one else’s are handy. Amanda probably spent a lot of time in her teens writing to men on death row.
Some new devices include a rack that twists one’s extremities until the bones pop out, and an abattoir-inspired scenario involving deliquescent pigs is enough to make you long for the stench of rotting corpses.
We are immediately given a reveal that the new games may not have been the work of Jigsaw. His point of giving his victims some chance of survival wasn’t followed here. The person being tortured would have died no matter what.
The tension that the first film had and to a lesser degree the second, is completely absent here. However, gore is definitely a big part of this movie and it utilizes it quite well. It’s used mostly in the torture storyline which continues to be the most interesting part of this franchise. We are to feel for our main character as he goes through each test and while it isn’t as emotional it could have been, it’s a decent study of grief, even when it feels a bit over the top. The driving force of this storyline also continues to be the anticipation of our character’s decisions which is interesting and captivating.
The good news is that, while not able to completely redeem the source material, Jigsaw Endgame is far more enjoyable than it’s parts. It is a far more character-driven affair than the SAW franchise as a whole, which often seems like an exercise in gore just for the sake of it. This is the most human that we’ve seen Jigsaw. John Kramer is now an ordinary man with extraordinary skills who, due to tragic events in his life, finally snaps. Jigsaw ends up being the most sympathetic character in the edit, which is no small accomplishment when you consider that he’s also the source of all the film’s violence.
It’s amazing how Zagadka and Maniac were able to come up with ideas to maximize on the little that was actually good about these films and bring them together into and edit that’s far more enjoyable and easy digested.
Much of the movies’ plots in this franchise rely on characters making completely arbitrary decisions. If someone opted to go left instead of right then Jigsaw’s entire plan could have fallen apart. It’s inconceivable to think that even a puppet master as ingenious as Jigsaw could have foreseen and prepared for every possible decision that his subjects would make. The edit highlights this arbitrary nature of the story’s construction. The ending that will frustrate as many viewers as it impresses.
Despite the flaws of the source material, Jigsaw Endgame is a gripping, fast paced thriller that will keep you engaged throughout. You may be somewhat confused avout what it all meant and how things played out, but you’ll also leave with a better understanding of Jigsaw as a character. If you liked the franchise or specifically, these two insane editors’ previous edit, Jigsaw A History of Desperation, you will love this edit.
Great work!