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A Review of “Saw X (2023)”

 

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SAW is one of those franchises that I feel like it should have ended long ago. SAW III had the iconic villain die but nope the franchise continued. SAW 3D was titled the final chapter but nope the franchise continued. Somehow, this franchise managed to get to its 10th entry but is there any worth to it or is this just another pointless cash grab?

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Firstly, I love how this entry does something different. For the first time in the series, John Kramer himself is the main protagonist. Previous entries would usually have a protagonist who is trying to survive his traps. We get a lot more insight into his moral code and we get to see a more human side to him. One thing this film does well is make us fully in support of Jigsaw. Sometimes Jigsaw will make certain people be involved in his games but it is very questionable whether they deserve it. This is not the case in SAW X as the antagonists are just vile human beings who prey on sick individuals. Additionally, having this movie set after SAW I but before SAW II was a good choice. This meant not having any of the convoluted baggage of entries after 2.

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Tobin Bell returns as Jigsaw and he gives a great performance. I loved seeing him portray these new sides to John while also showing his anger towards these scammers. Shawnee Smith also returns as Amanda and seeing more of her relationship with John was a big focus in the film. Amanda is having doubts about being able to follow in his footsteps but John being a mentor and encouraging her is surprisingly heart-warming in a torture movie. I do like they also explore the idea of whether one truly deserves it or not. The scammers all have different levels of involvement in the scam, does someone with minimal involvement deserve to be in the game? They also raise the question of his moral code. John believes everyone deserves a second chance which is why his games have a chance of surviving. However, these scammers are terrible and one of them is truly unforgivable. It is doubtful they would changed if they survived. Both of these are raised by Amanda to John and build up their eventual conflict. The biggest reason anyone is watching these movies is the traps which are enjoyable enough in SAW X. They are not overly ridiculous and gratuitous like some previous entries but they are gruesome enough to make you want to look away.

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Nevertheless, the film does have some problems. There is a twist in the 3rd act that is a little questionable. You have to wonder why the characters bothered to take that risk when it could easily go wrong. Additionally, the conclusion is not very satisfying because it not giving a proper closure to a certain character. John also has a thing against bringing innocents into his games but in future films, chronologically, he brings people who made honest mistakes and even used a player’s child as bait. John is very flippant with his code.

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Overall, this is one of the best SAW movies in a long time. It brings something fresh to the franchise and feels like a coherent movie. I still don’t think there should be any more in this franchise but the studio is obviously going to make more. However, if it is of a similar quality to SAW X then I might warm up to the idea of more SAW.


 

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