“Saw X” Talkback (Spoilers)

[[classic swim]]

[Saw X]

Wish I could go back to before last night when my buddies convinced me to go see this with them. Before I spent 18 bucks on popcorn and sat through yet another bad entry of my favorite horror franchise.

My late night showing had a large amount of butts in seats for this hyped up picture, and I’m not sure how disengaged or disinterested they were as a crowd, but damn. I still remember the theater reaction to 3D’s Gordon ending.

One thing I’ll give the movie is that I always loved Tobin Bell‘s performance in any case. Even when I was immediately skeptical and scoffing at X’s trailer, I knew his acting chops would be there. Just..... a really, really terrible script he was given.


So much of the movie is wasted expositional trash. And I say that as someone who typically likes the stories, and doesn’t go just for the gore. A lot of parts, I was practically begging for a pie to be thrown.

If you’re even wanting to watch just for the traps, they’re really not that exciting. The first and possibly best one they did earlier in the movie was a fake out for some nurse tempting to steal a Rolex.




Jigsaw goes on this big journey to Mexico for blackmarket cancer treatment.

For how much of a genius the films portray Kramer, the guy gets nabbed in an unmarked van, with masked gunmen... goes to the secret criminal facility and doesn’t stop to think “now wait a minute. Maybe I’m in danger of being conned or worse?”

I’m all for suspending belief, but way to make your mythological horror figure look like a dopey Neanderthal with your central synopsis.


The general topic of Kramer’s cancer has been long since bone dry. The original set of movies already stated everything that needed to be said about his illness. Jigsaw being cheated out of insurance coverage back in VI was more than enough without going completely out of left field.

What’s this movie like? Think “Saw VI,” only with so much time wasted on a stupid Mexico trip, and the antagonist of the movie (blackmarket doctor lady) being some cartoonishly treacherous criminal mastermind from a completely different god damn movie genre. And nothing really happens to her!



I’d consider Amanda to be one positive. For most part. Before things fell off the tracks.

It’s nice Amanda wanted to save Gabriella. She clearly saw herself in that poor girl on count of her mutual battle with drug addiction.

It’s impossible for Saw X to be set between 1 & 2, partially because Amanda’s aged both physically and mentally as a character after 20 years. She didn’t have much of any compassion or wisdom by her demise in Saw III, let alone the first two films. This version of Amanda is almost all the wiser.


Once they randomly brought in the small child John befriended earlier as a wholesome one-off moment, I wanted to leave the theater then and there. Never ONCE have I ever felt a Saw movie or any movie of recent memory had crossed the line until that point.

Don’t care if the kid was “unharmed” or that they made it right by giving him a happily ever after. Making him part of a game was completely inexcusable on all accounts and the director should be ashamed.


I think this movie wanted to present Jigsaw as a twist game subject and to put a brief rest to the gigantic ego they’ve given him. Which would’ve been something. And then they predictably just flipped it around to where he was magically on top the entire time.

The trap they placed John in was self serving symbolism at its finest. Showing him visibly drowning in the blood of his victims was poetic in some way. But... that’s apparently what he wanted to do anyway since he made the trap. And I guess he magically knew they’d place him there? Alright.


I really would’ve liked it if the official Saw media account didn’t completely spoil the Hoffman mid credits scene before I went to see the movie. But that was clearly intentional. They wanted to get more seats in by promising Hoffman.

Which, that closing scene was fine, if yet more wasted potential. You do see Hoffman where he was last.

Didn’t like the fact they waited until the very end to present Henry as a fake. I’d rather he be a genuine good guy that got scammed, but whatever. Loose ends, and he wasn’t the most important part of that scene anyway.



This sucked.

“Game over.”

 

[Pooky]

Interesting to hear your largely negative thoughts, it seems most of the fans, and even critics, seem to regard this as one of the better entries. I've been on the outside of these things once or twice in the past myself, but on this occasion, I'm not. At the very least I think it's a big improvement on Spiral, which wasn't terrible but was pretty unsatisfying, especially now that it seems likely it was a one-off tangent rather than the start of something new. It's also less idiotic than Jigsaw, which admittedly I had a blast with in 2017 largely because it was so silly and over the top. This is still absurd, of course, but for me the absurdity is part of the series' appeal.

It's always been clear that Tobin Bell takes this role and series a lot more seriously than most actors would, and it's paid off here with his extensive (even dominent) screen time, and he shows he's more than up to the task.


*So yeah, for the first time in the series' history, critics have given this a Thumbs Up, with 82% from critics and 85% Top. The closest is the first with just 50%. In comparison Exorcist: Believer has just 23% and only 17% Top. Never would I have guessed a film from the prestigious Exorcist series by an acclaimed (if uneven/erratic) Director would be less well reviewed than the movie in the disreputable Saw series from the Director of two previous Saw movies.

 

[[classic swim]]

Interesting to hear your largely negative thoughts, it seems most of the fans, and even critics, seem to regard this as one of the better entries.

I think the main reason people went to this with 10000% open arms was because they were actually using the series title again, and were focusing on all the key main characters they retired a long time ago when they produced their final movie the first time.

Spiral makes this so hilarious because that movie was still relatively recent and it’s safe to say it’s already been completely retconned out of significance.

Or maybe not. But I highly doubt they’ll focus on those characters ever again.

Maybe if I didn’t have a long sentimental history with this series going back to the release of “Saw II” then I could’ve better turned my brain off for X. But I just found it to be a mess. Nostalgia doesn’t always win you over.

I guess this should be good for other fans still. Especially since Tobin’s not gonna be around forever.

 

[Pooky]

I got into the series with the fourth. I saw the first shortly after it came out on DVD but wasn't totally sold. Seeing the fourth in the cinema when I hadn't seen the second or third was an insane experience as it's so continuity heavy (as well as possibly the most violent film to gross over $100million worldwide), so I had to see what I'd missed.

 

[[classic swim]]

III was somewhat the proper end. 4th only rubbed me the wrong way because of how they shafted Eric Matthews. But I did a big rewatch of the movies some time ago and found myself liking Matthews less.

Once you go from V to 3D the franchise is still very captivating but it also kinda just became a bent cop drama. Hoffman sometimes made me feel like I was watching a hybrid of The Shield.

 

[Moe]

Wish I could go back to before last night when my buddies convinced me to go see this with them. Before I spent 18 bucks on popcorn and sat through yet another bad entry of my favorite horror franchise.

Yike, I paid $25 for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with popcorn and large soda at local AMC theater with recliner seat, and closed caption glasses was very uncomfortable with annoying warning about low battery life.

I'm going to wait for digital version for Saw X and I have all Saw films, exception of Spiral.

 

[[classic swim]]

I said I would watch Jigsaw way back when, and then I just never got around to seeing it. Probably the one time I dodged a bullet. Haven’t even looked at any of the traps for that movie.