Saw X Review: One of the Best Installments of the Franchise

What's up everyone? We are still at Fantastic Fest 2023 and we have seen the very last Secret Screening. Secret Screening 4. It is Saw X. I'm Perri Nemiroff and this is John Algetz. And you are here for a Saw X review. I'm hesitant to give a description of this movie. Everybody knows what Saw is about at this point. They are 10 films in. Yeah, and if you don't know what you're going in for with these movies, this movie isn't for you anyways. I'll begin here with a little, again, this is never a spoiler interview, a spoiler review, unless we warn you about that. But I'll work in some of the synopsis into my analysis of the movie because this was one of my absolute favorite parts of this movie, especially compared to the majority of recent Saw films. I love, love, loved the fact that this story was so John Kramer focused. This is a starring vehicle for Tobin Bell. And yes, Tobin Bell is very famous for playing John, for playing Jigsaw, this entire franchise. But this is a film that lets him flex his acting muscles and have significant scenes with him. And also, it's very heavily focused on the John-Amanda mentor-protege relationship. And I don't know, just seeing the two of them thrive as actors and characters, I found extremely satisfying in this movie. And Tobin Bell just absolutely crushes it. Like the character of John Kramer, you know, is very, very stoic. He's, he's not a big emoter. You know, he's not really even a man of many words, as it were. But what Tobin Bell can do with just his eyes, like the emotion that he can convey just in here is fantastic and honestly carried this movie. It's it's something it is true. He's, you know, he's not an he's not an especially expressive character. And I don't think Tobin Bell ever breaks those qualities here. But it is a really emotional performance. It's emotional in terms of his connection to to Amanda, his personal situation that he's in. But also, I think this movie does a really good job of beefing up his motivations overall throughout the franchise, because a lot of this movie is very much about what Jigsaw does, how he tests his victims, why he tests his victims. So I do feel like this is the kind of story and the kind of exploration of that character and what he's about that winds up bolstering the entire franchise. And it's and unlike some, some of his victims, I guess, in the past, who were just generally bad people. These are people who like, they made the mistake of doing something bad, just to him, you know, like it was. So it's like a personal revenge story in a way, while also being your traditional Saw story. I definitely think that one of the major highlights is is the narrative and how heavily focused it is on character. But of course, we're talking about a Saw movie. Y'all want to know about how good or or not good the traps are. But I thought I thought every single one of them in this movie was was really, really good. It was like it was visually stimulating and exciting. It was nerve wracking. They were character specific and story specific. Very well executed. Very well shot, too. There's a couple that are extremely complicated that if you don't figure out the right visual language for it, it completely ruins the entire scare. But I thought they pretty much nailed everything on every level in that respect. It definitely got the like the kind of blue factor out of it for me. I don't know how to describe that like any other way. Like sitting next to me, you had to have seen me like sitting there cringing and like kind of squirming a little bit in my seat because some of them were just hard to watch. But that's that's what you expect from a Saw trap. I will say that the these saw traps were to me, they seem to be a little bit at least mechanically simple compared to some that we've seen without the series. But honestly, that might be a hint at where this movie fits in the timeline of Saw. But, you know, they were they were they were what you expect from Saw. They're what you're what you come to these movies for. They are and they aren't. I also I understand what you mean by mechanically simple, especially in comparison to some other ones we saw. But I thought for the victim placed in them, they were especially complicated. And if I were to if I were to criticize one element of the traps, there are a couple of things that happened towards the tail end of the use of the traps that I think might go against the overall mentality of what Jigsaw is about in the lessons he's trying to teach. That is probably my one and only criticism of them. And again, it does not take away from how well the story plays and how thrilling they are to watch. But it is something that stuck in my mind after a couple of them, which again, you know, as I said, like they feel like they are hinting at the earliness or rather like where in the timeline this movie does fit in, because it might just be, you know, Jigsaw still kind of figuring some things out. And maybe, you know, he isn't quite executing on his plans quite as well as he does later on in his story. But, you know, they're still fun to watch. Like, and that's the important thing. Well, OK, fun, fun and fun in like a twisted, very disturbing way. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and give this new Saw movie. Oh, wow. I think I'm gonna go as high as an eight. This movie, this movie made me really, this movie made me really happy. I've always, I've always loved the idea of Saw. I've always especially loved the first. And then, you know, the movies that came after, I do think they're a little all over the place. I love some of them. I've disliked some of them. And then some, you know, float around in the middle. This is the first Saw movie I've seen in a while that has, you know, not that I ever lost it, but like reignited my enthusiasm for the brand and the concept in a really special way. And actually, I'll add this on to the review a little too. One thing I really appreciated about this film, and I talk about this a lot with, you know, with a remake, with a franchise extension. One of the best things one of those movies can do is to be for the hardcore fans, but also serve as an on ramp for newcomers. Because if you're moving, I understand that you always want a continuing story. But if you can't be for both groups, all you do with every new installment is narrow your audience more and more. This Saw movie feels like a story that can stand on its own two feet where if you've never said I recommend seeing other Saw movies, but if you've never seen another Saw movie, you can enjoy this ride. But then also the way that they fit it into the rest of the franchise is extremely satisfying for a longtime fan and especially for a longtime fan who's been itching for additions to specific elements of the ongoing story. And then I'll add one other thing that I loved in that respect. I walked out of this movie, I've done quite a few Saw rewatches over the years. This is the first Saw installment in a long time that sent me out the door dying to do a full franchise rewatch. And I think that's reflective of how strong certain elements of the story are. I'll end there. I loved it. What did you think? So I will say that as far as the filmmaking goes, I would be so bold as to say that as far as the actual quality of this film, this might be top tier in the entire franchise. It's just it is a well crafted movie. As we pointed out, the acting is really well done. And it's not just Tobin Bell that does a great job. The entire rest of the cast just is absolutely fantastic. We actually had to look up a name. Apologies if I don't pronounce her name correctly. Sanav Makati Lund. I definitely didn't pronounce that correctly, but she does deserve a shout out. She's one of the newer characters in the mix. And I thought she was just downright electric in that role. Very, very well portrayed every single layer of that character. She manages to more than hold her own with Tobin Bell. Their scenes together are just so intense. There's one specific moment. We also haven't name dropped Shawnee Smith either, who is yet again A plus as Amanda and her chemistry with Tobin Bell. And this story doesn't work unless their chemistry is on point. The two of them just really know exactly what to do to bolster the jigsaw Amanda relationship here. I do want to point something out with her specifically that I appreciated. Obviously with Amanda being in the film, you know roughly where it is in the timeline. So you know that it's going to be earlier on. They didn't de-age her, which I appreciated. There was no de-aging effects, at least that I could tell. Because it's been a while since we've seen Amanda. I guess so. I didn't really think that... She didn't really need it. I didn't really think that she's at a point that she would need that. I was sitting there and I was like, you know, you can tell that she's older, you know, because people age, it's natural. But like they didn't have like bad de-aging effects, which I just appreciated. Yeah, I really do. I really do dig where this movie falls in the timeline. I think it was a very, very smart choice on the filmmakers part. And I do think that this movie came at just the right time for this franchise. I know some people out there loved love spiral, love jigsaw. They didn't quite work for me. And it just felt like this was a time where, you know, the franchise needed some sort of, you know, I'm like not pivot. That's probably the wrong word, but like a like a really effective kick in the ass that really got people hyped again. And that's definitely the effect it had on me. And I just have high hopes it's going to have that effect on a lot of people out there. I've got to score it myself. Oh, I didn't even score it after all that. Well, I took us off on a tangent. But yeah, it's a it's a it's a great, well-made film. That being said, I don't think I personally had as much fun with it as I did some other Saw movies. It's still easily in the top half of the franchise, a top five for me. Without a doubt. But I would put it at a solid seven. I'll take that. It's mostly Tobin Bell's performance is carrying that. Or really just as I said, the cast in general, their performances are really carrying it. But yeah, I think that it's good. I highly recommend that you go out and check it out if you're a Saw fan or if you're just a general fan in general. All right. That's where we stand on Saw 10. And also that is our final review of Fantastic Fest 2023. So if you've been on this journey with us, thank you for being here. I hope you've enjoyed our reviews. And if you want more Fantastic Fest, all you got to do is go on over to the Collider Interviews YouTube channel because interviews are starting to pop up over there. And we've got like a dozen more to go. So so much more content coming your way. We'll see you soon.