10 Recent Movies That Never Should've Worked (But Did)
4. Saw X
Following two botched attempts to move the Saw franchise away from Tobin Bell's John Kramer - who, hilariously, died way back in 2006's Saw III - the decision to make Saw X an "interquel" set between the first two Saw films seemed to whiff of pure desperation.
For starters, a prequel focusing on Kramer's earlier "career" as Jigsaw innately has no suspense regarding his survival, and secondly, its intent to make Kramer a more sympathetic figure had massive potential to blow up in the filmmakers' faces. He is, after all, a serial killer.
But against tremendous odds, Saw X ended up the best-reviewed of all the Saw films, largely due to its more character-driven storytelling approach, digging deep into Kramer's own fight for survival and righteous quest against the charlatans who scammed him with the promise of a cancer cure.
The main reason that Saw X works so well, inevitably, is Tobin Bell's outstanding performance as Kramer, bringing gravitas and even emotional resonance to a character who, despite earning a measure of sympathy, is undeniably still a monster.
It doesn't exactly chart a course forward for the franchise without Bell - who, remember, is 82 years old - but Saw X nevertheless offers up a surprisingly neat and tidy addition to the series' wildly convoluted lore.