SawX (#469)


I gave myself a present today to celebrate my 94th birthday.  Yes, I’m really 94 and I know you won’t be surprised that I treated myself to a movie, which I suspected I wouldn’t like because it was another one of those sequels where I haven’t seen any of the others and frankly had no idea what to expect.  I don’t think SAWX had 9 previous lives but obviously a couple.  The film started as a reasonably normal one.  A man, John Kramer, is told he is fatally ill with cancer.  He has a seemingly chance meeting with another cancer patient, who announces he is free of cancer and-who tells him about some radical treatment (including the one he received) is available in other parts of the world but the medical profession and Big Pharma won’t approve them here.  Kramer finds one such clinic in Mexico, goes there and, very impressed by the CEO, the daughter of a very famous Swedish doctor, agrees to undergo their operation and medications.  There are interesting operating room sequences, and he is pronounced cured. As he is rehabilitating, he goes back to the clinic to bring s gift to the CEO only to find nothing there, and when he takes off the dressing on his head, he realizes he has been duped because no surgery was done to him..  The film then takes on what Saw is really all about -- violence and vengeance.  He tracks down all the people he dealt with in the clinic and viciously tortures them.  Ugh!  Who wants to see a woman cut off her own leg which sets into motion an instrument that cuts off her head.  Not my cup of tea, but 83% of critics gave it a thumbs up as did 91% of audiences.  

As a mid-level nonagenarian, I have been wondering whether it’s time to end this avocation and stop seeing movies and reviewing them.  What do you think?  Quit or continue?  I’d like to hear from you!


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