Post by Dracula on Oct 3, 2023 10:47:00 GMT -5
Saw X(10/2/2023)
In this film, set between Saw and Saw II and also the various flashbacks to pre-Saw events featured in the rest of the sequels, we for the first time follow John Kramer for the entirety of the film rather than one of his victims. In it Kramer gets taken in by a con artist offering a miracle cure to his cancer which turns out to be a total scam but, well, scamming the Jigsaw Killer tends to be bad for your health. The film makes basically no attempt to reconcile the fact that the now 81 year old Bell looks significantly older than he did in those previous movies despite this being set around the same time, as does Shawnee Smith as his apprentice Amanda. In general Kramer is a lot less menacing here given that he’s the protagonist, which is kind of a weird position for the character to be put in given that he’s someone who basically tortures people to death. The film doesn’t completely give in to making him a “good guy” and does still question his methods and ends, but given the framing this no longer really functions as a thriller in which you’re rooting for his victims to escape. The film does this in part by inventing a villain who really, really, really seems to have violent retribution coming for her in the form of the ruthless Norwegian con artist Cecilia Pederson, played by Synnøve Macody Lund who is almost silly in her evil here. The movie ultimately does feel different from most of the other Saw movies in structure and point of view, but I don’t know that it really finds a way forward and I didn’t find the ultimate conclusion terribly satisfying.
**1/2 out of Five
The Saw franchise is approaching its twentieth anniversary and since it’s now released its tenth installment that means it has averaged an installment every two years. It far outlived its contemporaneous franchises like Final Destination and Hostel and now even has more franchise installments than A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Child’s Play. Most of those installments came before 2010 however, when they were making a movie a year for seven straight years. The last three have been more recent attempts to reboot the series in different ways. 2017’s Jigsaw mostly just tried to reboot things by upgrading the series visuals and production values while 2021’s Spiral tried to be a sort of spinoff starring Chris Rock and taking on a Black Lives Matter theme. Of the two I’d say Jigsaw was the more successful as that actually tried to inject new creative blood into thing. Spiral masqueraded as being something new and different but behind the scenes it was being made by the same creative team that made the old Saw movies and they seem to have decided to stick to that approach with the most recent installment Saw X, which was directed by longtime series editor Kevin Greutert who also directed Saw VI and the seventh (and widely derided) film Saw 3D. However the gimmick they’re going with this time is to return Tobin Bell to the series as the villainous John “Jigsaw” Kramer and give him a much bigger role than he’s ever been given before, meaning this would be a prequel set before the character’s death in Saw III.
In this film, set between Saw and Saw II and also the various flashbacks to pre-Saw events featured in the rest of the sequels, we for the first time follow John Kramer for the entirety of the film rather than one of his victims. In it Kramer gets taken in by a con artist offering a miracle cure to his cancer which turns out to be a total scam but, well, scamming the Jigsaw Killer tends to be bad for your health. The film makes basically no attempt to reconcile the fact that the now 81 year old Bell looks significantly older than he did in those previous movies despite this being set around the same time, as does Shawnee Smith as his apprentice Amanda. In general Kramer is a lot less menacing here given that he’s the protagonist, which is kind of a weird position for the character to be put in given that he’s someone who basically tortures people to death. The film doesn’t completely give in to making him a “good guy” and does still question his methods and ends, but given the framing this no longer really functions as a thriller in which you’re rooting for his victims to escape. The film does this in part by inventing a villain who really, really, really seems to have violent retribution coming for her in the form of the ruthless Norwegian con artist Cecilia Pederson, played by Synnøve Macody Lund who is almost silly in her evil here. The movie ultimately does feel different from most of the other Saw movies in structure and point of view, but I don’t know that it really finds a way forward and I didn’t find the ultimate conclusion terribly satisfying.
**1/2 out of Five
