It's been over a decade since Saw: The Final Chapter (aka Saw 3D/Saw 7) was released. The film finally wrapped up the storyline between Doctor Gordon and the villainous Detective Hoffman. As with the rest of the original films, alongside the story ran an awesome trap about a man pretending to suffer a jigsaw trap, and profiteering via books and publicity.
After that, the story was left finished for the most part with a few open ending questions. Was Doctor Gordon taking over? Who were the other masked vigilantes working with him? How far did the legacy of John Kramer (Jigsaw) go?
Unfortunately, the studio heads at Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures opted to go in a different direction. Rather than go further ahead, they decided to go backwards with the awful "Jigsaw" stand alone film that left more plot holes and a bad taste in the mouth. More than anything else; it's different take on the franchise was hollow and confusing. After this, a few more years pass and we are given "Spiral: From the Book of Saw". This was a film that we all could of gone without. Not only did it 'Spiral' downhill further than "Jigsaw", it was riddled with horrible characters, a story that had no connection to the other films and just felt disingenuous to the core of the franchise. As it stood as somewhat a sequel, it was a great example of all the WRONG ways to go with a Saw film. After this abomination it seemed like we were left with a dead franchise... until Saw X was announced and boy did it deliver.
The format wasn't completely back the way it used to be, however it's hard to complain about much with this film. The timeline taking place between the first two Saw films, it made an excellent addition to the canonical series. Not only do we get a new story with John Kramer (Jigsaw) once again reprised by the great man himself, Tobin Bell. We also get to see Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith), Jigsaw's other half in her learning curb days. The story broadens on Kramer's life battling cancer with a breakthrough treatment that could cure him once and for all. He seems to change to a degree where it seems like things would of been different... had this not all been a scam.
Since bad people have to learn not to take life for granted, Jigsaw returns to teach the scammers some hard lessons with some innovative and new painfully exquisite traps.
I won't go further as this is supposed to be a spoiler free review and if you've read this far, trust me you will love this movie and welcome it as part of the saga. It's not completely back to where it was, but it's a HUGE difference between the previous two abominations and actually stands very well. There's a large chance we will see more (hopefully!) of the franchise as this has done very well, rightfully so. 8/10 for a great comeback; hoping for more.
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