Resharpened and Retooled: Saw X (2023) Review

Director: Kevin Greutert

Notable Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Renata Vaca, Paulette Hernandez, Octavio Hinojosa Martinez, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Joshua Okamoto, Jorge Briseño

 

The third time’s a charm, huh?

 

Although the 8th and 9th films of the Saw franchise both essentially sold themselves as soft reboots for the long-running horror series, see our reviews for Jigsaw and Spiral: From the Book of Saw, respectively, neither one really grabbed the core ideas or style in a way that genuinely recaptured audiences after a brief hiatus after the seventh film, Saw 3D. 

 

Two failed attempts, but Saw X - which I like to pronounce as “socks” for the record, was going to find that sweet spot, right?

 

Well, Saw X rectifies previous misfires by returning to the start but taking a few exciting side roads. A combination of simplification in the now very lore-heavy Saw franchise and bringing back the series’ two most famous villains, Saw X does many things right, even when treading on some new territory, which has always been a problematic area for the series. With brutal new traps and a renewed sense of dramatic heft, Saw X threads many thin lines and manages to do impressively. At least when it comes to the Saw-iverse, is that a thing?

 

Jigsaw (2017)

Directors: The Spierig Brothers

Notable Cast: Callum Keith Rennie, Cle Bennett, Matt Passmore, Hannah Emily Anderson, Mandela Van Peebles, Laura Vandervoort, Brittany Allen, Paul Braunstein, Joshiah Black, Tobin Bell

Saw was one of the first franchises that I felt like was connected to me. I was a freshman in college when the first one came out and I’ve seen every one in theaters, even going as far as defending it in many horror social groups as one of the truly iconic franchises of horror. Even then, the seventh Saw film – under whatever title you want to call it – ended the series on a low note. It was cartoonish and problematic. It, along with decreasing box office revenues, essentially killed the franchise. That is until rebooting everything became even more trendy than before and nostalgia started selling tickets even more. Thus, the return of ‘If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw’ with the 8^th installment, Jigsaw. Let’s be honest though, this film has potential. The Spierig brothers in the director’s chair, time to not rush the film into production, and a new more cinematic look to the film all gave it a renewed sense of being a true ‘reboot’ without being a remake. Yet, as the credits rolled and the usual Saw music played after it revealed the usual spins and twists of plot, it was easy to feel underwhelmed. Jigsaw does indeed do what it wanted to by rebooting the franchise and still giving fans the pieces of the franchise they wanted, but it’s too safe. It adheres to its formula like it’s a religious reckoning, afraid to deviate too far and possibly alienate the inherent fanbase. In this effort, as a reboot it feels too much like a disconnected sequel and as a sequel it ignores the mythology too much to truly appease the super fans. Jigsaw is a fun Saw movie and hits all of those key moments and delivers on those goods, but is it so much to want more from it? Or has the franchise, even 7 years beyond the last entry, just too comfortable doing the same?

Saw 3D [Saw: The Final Chapter] (2010)

Director: Kevin Greutert
Notable Cast: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Cary Elwes, Sean Patrick Flannery, Chad Donella, Gina Holden

Initial Note: I refuse to call this film by its official name "Saw 3D" because its a stupid gimmick and a poor choice on filmmakers in an attempt to make this film stand out from the rest of the franchise and sell more tickets with its 3D. From this point on this film will be referred to as "Saw VII". Thank you.
Second Note: After I wrote this review for the theatrical release of the film, it was renamed for home video using the tagline to Saw: The Final Chapter. I will continue to refer to it as Saw VII because The Final Chapter is almost as bad as Saw 3D. Thank you. Again.

Was I excited for Saw VII? How can I not be? Saw VI was a return to form for the series as it focused down on the lessons learned through the traps and re-balanced the narrative to intertwine in better ways. So Saw VII should do this too right? Not really. Although the story line is fairly interesting on a basic level (both of the main plots) and the general things one looks for in a Saw film are all present, the blending and execution of these elements is where the film lacks and makes it, easily, the worst in the franchise.

PLOT A: Dagen (Flanery) is the author of a bestselling novel called 'S.U.R.V.I.V.E.' where he discusses surviving a Jigsaw trap. He calls to arms to find the positive parts of the lessons learned for survivors of the traps and happens to make a shit load of cash doing it. Too bad Jigsaw gets rather pissed about this because Dagen is a liar. So Dagen is thrown into an abandoned place and must save all of his conspirators in his lie eventually leading to a final challenge to save his unknowing wife. Can he do it in time and follow his own advice?

PLOT B: At the end of Saw VI we had Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill Tuck (Russell) loading new Jigsaw Det. Hoffman (Mandylor) into the bear trap headset. Luckily, (not for Tuck) Hoffman survives with only some minor face tearing. Now Hoffman is out to take out Tuck and get his revenge all the while setting up one of Jigsaw's final traps (Plot A) to distract police while he tries to infiltrate the police station and get him some Tuck.

As you can see, there are two distinctive plot lines going on with Saw VII. Both are relatively interesting and both are distinctly Saw story lines that we have become something we are all dying to see continue on. The poor part about this one is that they don't intertwine like they should. It brings back nightmares of the poor narrative flow of the fifth entry. Although they do attempt to intertwine them, its mostly surface level and rather weak in their efforts. Throw in some poorly developed subplots in those (including a poorly acted IA cop looking to score on Hoffman and a poorly developed story that includes a random machine gun climax that comes completely out of the blue and makes no sense) and there just seems to be an odd loss of focus in the plots.

We get very little new material in back story for most of the big characters sans a new surprise appearance by Saw alumni Cary Elwes as Dr. Gordon (although I'm pretty sure that there was a footless corpse in one of the previous entries that we were to assume as him...oh well) the film does like to throw its own surprises that work quite well even if they get pretty obvious later on and if you are willing to suspend your sense of disbelief in major ways. The film does come full circle by the end (it IS the final chapter right? *eye roll*) but it leaves it open for continued franchising. So Saw fans may enjoy it on some levels despite its massive flaws.

Although Saw VII does have some great and unique traps, on a side note this was the first saw I gagged at with the key on a string sequence - if you saw it you know it, and its plots are fairly well developed if generally unbelievable. It's just poor blending of some of the plots and subplots that hurts the overall experience. I also have some issues with some of the films twists but I won't go into those without giving away some crucial spoilers, but as a fan it felt forced in many ways. Despite some solid elements, it's easily the weakest of the franchise (thus far, you know more are coming in some form) and its mostly for fans.

BONUS RANT: I saw this one in 3D, my first 3D experience mind you, and I thought that it felt like the film forgot it was in 3D more often than not. Except for a few moments thrown in of CGI gore and a dream sequence seemingly thrown in just for the 3D, there really is no reason to see it in 3D. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Saw III (2006)

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Notable Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh, Donnie Wahlberg, Dina Meyer, Leigh Whannell, Lyriq Bent

All great franchises have their trilogies, right? So one assumes that in the case of a franchise like Saw, the third film, entitled Saw III, would wrap up a kind of ‘endgame’ for the Jigsaw killer. Initially, that is most certainly the tone that this film runs with. At its core, it’s much more of the same in a lot of ways, particularly after the second film broadened the scope of the series with parallel plotting and more characters than one can shake a stick at, so in that sense it’s easy to hop into if you’re familiar with the Saw formula. On the other hand, the manner that it plays things out feels a tad more personal than the previous installment and the tricks up its sleeve are more or less nuances to its script rather than the focus like the last one. Still, as it works with most of the sequels in this series, the results of Saw III are a mixed bag in execution vs content and it leaves the entire thing feeling a tad sour in the aftertaste despite its stronger moments.

Saw II (2005)

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Notable Cast: Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Erik Knudsen, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Beverley Mitchell, Timothy Burd, Dina Meyer, Lyriq Bent

In the first of numerous sequels to come, Saw II has some trouble matching wits as its predecessor. It has some great moments and it has some stinkers too. Even though one can expect that this film will have twists and a surprise ending to go with its style, Saw II still accomplishes quite a bit despite the lofty expectations set by the original, but too many cliche elements in the film bring it down again and its ambitious continuation of the concept creates too many problems for it to solve on its own.

Saw (2004)

Director: James Wan
Notable Cast: Leigh Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell

To say I'm a fan of this film is somewhat of an understatement. Saw it three times in theaters when it came out, and have owned it since day one of its release with many watches down the hatch at home. I find this film to be immensely entertaining and clever for the time period that it was released and one that, despite some flaws, holds up even when the nostalgia goggles of my youth have been removed. Saw is a film that takes its exploitative elements and gives them a fun and smart modern twist that balances its use of limited budget to maximize its entertainment value.