Saw definitely gets points for being unique and taking risks. The acting is pretty terrible (especially Leigh Whannell and Danny Glover) and the story is needlessly convoluted, but Wan's directing is novel enough and the action is compelling enough that it's still worth a watch. The amount of gore is not nearly as prevalent as the hype would claim, but there are a few fun scenes, but the first Saw installment doesn't have any cool Jigsaw "games" except ones we get flashbacks of to set the scene. We spend far too long stuck with two bland and badly acted characters and the "twist" (if you can call it that) is surprising, but very stupid and unrealistic; the slightest thoughts will poke so many holes in it. Most of Saw is kind of slow and even occasionally boring, but Wan throws in these weird shots that look like they are from a Rob Zombie music video; the camera shakes very fast and the character's head whips back and forth and we spin around the character and the color palette shifts. It's disorienting and it really doesn't fit with the rest of the movie. Saw did try things that were new and novel for 2004, but they also do things that feel too 90's and dated. Saw is one of those movies that I can appreciate for how different it was in 2004, but in 2019, it's not really a horror movie and really only works as an introduction to the franchise.