Dominic Sevilla

So I only got into the franchise about 3 or 4 years ago having not been a horror fan up until recently. Saw quickly became my favorite series even if it got a bit ridiculous in the later movies. It was really interesting to see how this movie portrayed John Kramer. We never really saw the previous movies from his POV for the majority but there was time and care put into showing us what its like as he is controlling the games as well have a bit more sympathy towards him, something that got harder and harder to do as the movies went on. Tobin Bell put on an amazing perfomance and is still one of the greatest horror icons of all time. Shawnee Smith returns as Amanda Young and she didn't miss a beat, getting a glimpse of her lust for blood but also seeing her relationship with Kramer and her attachment to the games was amazing to see play out. Some of the players of the games were a bit corny but Saw has had plenty of corny characters so it fits in perfectly and even if it was corny, felt appropriate for the series. It was shot beautifully too. In the behind the scenes trailer they talked about trying to recreate the style of the older Saw movies. Though it stilll had a more modern look I got the a similar impression and it was a fun watch all around. Saw the movie with someone who had only seen the first movie and they were able to follow along pretty well too. Highly recomend. Decently scary, pretty brutal and very clever. If there was one complaint I would say for the tenth entry into the series it felt a bit grounded as far as the number of players he had for his games, though it does make sense given where this fits in on the timeline. My only real complaint but not enough for me to remove a star. Awesome movie!