Saw is a franchise that has had its ups and downs. I not sure if I would even consider it a good franchise as it abandoned proper characters and storytelling by the fourth film and replaced it with more gore. Other than the first film, the franchise really hasn’t had a good film on a cinematic level. They are sometimes fun, but I would be lying if I said they were well made. What happens when you decide to focus more on your characters and actually give your audience a compelling plot? You get Saw X.
This fact is proven by the overly positive reception that the film has gotten from both critics and the general audience. The first Saw film is currently the second highest rated film on Rotten Tomatoes at 50% and Saw X is at this point of writing at an 89% with critics and 92% with audiences. These are numbers that are not usually seen with the Saw franchise. There are a few reasons that this film is hitting in a way that the others haven’t.
The biggest reason is that they actually build a story around the main character of the franchise, that being John Kramer. The franchise lost focus on the fact that he was at the centre of it all as the films went on, but this film decides to take him and make him the protagonist as he takes on some frauds. They do the whole Don’t Breathe 2/Terminator 2 concept of making the previous villain the hero really well. The film actually has some character depth which is a welcomed surprise as you get to experience the entire range of John as a person and they let you truly understand why he’s doing this in the first place. Many of the other films in the franchise become a soap opera, but this one feels real and raw.
That ties into the other reason why people are adoring the film, that being how they handle the traps. It’s no secret that the films use of traps have gotten ridiculous over time. Some of those traps being absolutely impossible to pull off and taking the audience right out of the movie. That mixed with the incoherent timeline has ruined it for some. Saw X is a movie that you don’t need to really watch the other instalments to fully appreciate. The traps are also in keeping with the first two films before the ridiculous factor went off the rails. Specifically the traps of Valentina and Mateo are very much classic Saw, the type of traps that helped build the franchise positively. Valentina’s trap specifically has to do with sharp wires and losing a certain appendage to survive that took me back to the original two films.
The film also has some heart that surprised me and definitely grounded the film even more. Saw has not been a franchise known for that type of thematic storytelling, but X decided to try it and it worked.
Saw X is the best film in the Saw franchise on so many levels including the thematic storytelling and how it connects to the characters. A film that decides to take it back to basics and in that pursuit actually makes a very compelling and interesting film. It brings it back to classic Saw while also pushing forward. To put it simply, SAW X is a fun film about the human desire to live and what we’re willing to do to be able to live.
The Rating
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