I LOVE SAW!!!! IT IS THE GREATEST FILM FRANCHISE OF ALL TIME!!!

Ranking of the saw films is as follows:

1. Saw VI - Saw Six is the greatest because it is not so overly obessed with the lore and flashingback ad nauseam. As much as I love the clusterfucks that are the middle entries in the orginal saw heptalogy, Saw VI returns to basics in a very fun and enjoyable way. It is almost completely focused on one guy in the trap plot and this guy does not have any story revelance in the greater soap opera of Saw while still tying back into John's character and his central mission statement for the traps. It's one of the few examples of a trap plot that is actually making societal commentary and doing a very good job at it as well. The traps are all very interesting as well with some all timers in the series. The shotgun carousel is one of my favorites. The final set peice is great as well with a really great twist that has real impact while not being as convoluted and stupid as some others.

2. Saw - It's hard to argue against the og Saw. When I first watched I expected super gorey and meaningless violence, but in reality its a very intriguing and though provoking thriller with some really incredible twists to boot. Very engaging performances here. The performances are very important because this is really the only saw movie that is entirely focused on the trap plot through the whole thing. There are some flashbacks certainly and there is a cop plot, but it's all done to compliment the meat of the movie which is Dr. Lawrence Gordon and Adam's relationship and character dynamics as they try and figure out what is going on. One of the best movies that's just two people yapping for an hour and a half.

3. Saw VII aka Saw 3D aka Saw the final chapter aka the one with mecha john kramer on the poster - This is my most controversial take to be sure but I stand by my love of this film wholeheartedly. Honestly I think this direction was the best they could've gone in trying to wrap up this incredibly messy and convoluted soap opera of a story that spanned the last 6 films. By this point the main character had been dead for more movies than he'd been alive for. The overarching story is now focused solely on the intellectual property battle of a long dead serial killer between said killer's apprentice and ex-wife. It's an inherently ridiculous predicament to be found in and one that doesn't have any solutions that aren't obviously silly. The cultural image of Saw is something that needed to be dealt with as well since the idea of "torture porn" as a genre had grown into something that the Saw movies very much were not. So this film makes good on the inherent goofiness of the story having Lawrence Gordon secretly being alive and slow clapping from the shadows as his reveal. By this point all the really important jobs had been taken over by other apprentices so he has to get the leftovers in the flashbacks. Speaking of flashbacks you have backwards baseball cap John Kramer which might be the most important still to come out of the series. Then there's hoffman setting up a machine gun booby trap in his secret hideout and taking out an entire morgue full of workers with a knife. The traps are so over the top and ridiculous too. It really takes the critisms of this franchise at the time of these overly elaborate and cruel traps targeting mostly innocent people that exist solely as explotation. That's not true of most of the franchise but here it definitely is. It's a movie that gives the people what they think they already have and does it in such a hilariously insane way. The opening trap set up in a city center somehow? The mechinical metal pig that comes out of the ground to burn this innocent woman alive? It so good! The hot pink blood too! Don't even get me started on the hot pink blood! It's incredible.

4. Saw II - Definitely the closest to the first in terms of matching the character driven mystery thriller angle. It ups the ante this time with a whole group of people rather than just two. It has a greatly expanded cop plot as well that actually ties into the trap plot. Has a far more elaborate twist, but one that is still coherent and satisfying. There are obviously way more traps shown in greater detail than the first and they are all very cool. This feels to be like where the Saw formula actually begins to take shape in comparison to the first. It's also where the goat Amanda gets introduced as well as old reliable Donnie Whalberg.

5. Saw IV - Probably the most convoluted of the whole series but also the most satisying twist reveal. What it manages to pull off in it's final moments is kind of awe inspiring imo. It really ties the whole series up to this point together in a way that's sort of unexpected for a series that just killed off its main villian. The cop plot is interwoven in the most cohesive way the whole series thus far here as well. The traps are all very good and have a strong thematic revelence to the central moral compass of John Kramer as well. It's sort of the ultimate Saw movie in a way. It encompasses everything the series sought to do in a very tight and neat package. It is still quite confusing and overly convoluted at times, and definitely fails to function as a film independent of the Saw franchise, but it's still an impressive installment nonetheless.

6. Saw III - To be honest I'm not as big on this one as many are. I do love how much screentime Amanda gets but honestly her characterization is kind of annoying here. I like how she clashes with John and offers an alternative perspective on his idelogy but none of it is really given time to be explored as we are also dealing with this intense ticking clock of John dying and Jeff completing his challenge. And of all the characters who get solo challenges that take up an entire film Jeff is by far the weakest of the og 7. Unless you count the Saw 5 group but they aren't really the focus instead just something the movie keeps coming back to. Jeff is truly the focus of this film and I just don't really care about his test nor do I think he deserved it. It's defintiely the most miserable film the series and that's definitely working in its detriment.

7. Saw X - People act like this is some incredible return to form but honestly it's complete character assasination in many regards. John Kramer is this cutesy old man with cancer who has a really strong sense of moral and consistent morals which is nothing like the John we know and love. The real John is this deeply broken and bitter dude who uses his illness as an excuse to act out these extreme viligante power fantasies that are really just pointless acts of cruelty. But no, for the sake of this film he is an innocent guy who is on the verge of turning a new leaf and enjoying the sunset or whatever when meany scammers take advantage of him. The movie is a basic, uninteresting revenge plot masquerading as a Saw film. It is an insult and a joke to the Saw brand. At least it is a well made film in it's own right that has Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith in it. The traps are also very gorey and awesome, definitely the most extreme of the whole franchise. If you want basic revenge plot with gore out the wazoo give this a watch but if you want a Saw film that stays true to the characters of the orginal heptalogy go somewhere else.

Saw V - I put this under Saw X because it is just not really coherent as a film. There are one too many individual story threads that do not come together to create any kind of complete narrative. It's like they couldn't come up with a cohesive idea so they just created a bunch of short vingettes that clean up some lore stuff and called it a day. The trap plot is so loosely and tangentially connected to everything else that it's just stupid. It's also some of the weakest traps in general.

Jigsaw - Notice how I said "some of the weakest traps" because the rest are all here. The traps are stupid and lame and uninteresting. The whole film feels like a cheap redux of the bare bones outline of a saw film done purely for the sake of it. The twist is the most convoluted and stupid in series history and Logan is the most nothing burger guy of all time. Fuck logan. He does not deserve to be an apprentice nor my namesake.

Spiral - I don't even want to dignify this with a blurb because it isn't a Saw film. Chris Rock heard about the concept of a Saw movie and made the worst Seven knock off of all time. The "jigsaw" voice makes me want to cut off my ears.