One of the most interesting aspects of Netflix’s Choose or Die is how Kayla (Iona Evans) got manipulated by the evil coder Beck and his ’80s-influenced CURS>R game. The overlord forced Kayla to make monstrous decisions, harming or killing people to advance levels and win $125,000. However, by the end of the film, Beck revealed he was actually testing Kayla to see if she was worthy. But not only did she win, but he also gave her control to torture others, shaping her into a vindictive god ready to dole out warped justice. And in that sense, Choose or Die ended up being a better version of Saw.
Now, Saw focused on Tobin Bell’s John Kramer trapping folks in games, forcing them to survive by killing others. There would be the occasional games they could escape, but most of the time, John was acting as a vigilante, murdering them all in his campaign of bloodshed based on who did him wrong. But seeing as he was dying of cancer, he also opted to put Amanda through the motions, testing to see if she was worthy after escaping his trap.
She’d become his successor, although she wasn’t as virtuous as he was with her kills. Still, the intent was there, with John making Amanda his protégé and influencing others to try to become spiritual successors via these gory games. And the Netflix movie started in the same vein, but its supernatural vibe and how it warps reality became the game-changer Saw didn’t have.
As a demonic puppet master, Beck used Kayla’s suffering to remind her that the world wasn’t fair and someone needed to strike back. Beck showed how users could make people eat glass, gnaw at their limbs, rip their tongues out, force animals to attack others and create fake worlds. And the latter was prominent when Kayla fought and “killed” her dead brother in a local pool, reliving memories of when he drowned years before. It also popped up when the overlord had Kayla’s friend, Isaac, choke on tape reels. Simply put, the controller could break people in ways Jigsaw never could.
That allowed Kayla and Beck to transcend being human, unlike John and Amanda, and push the morals and ethics of people. They were even able to damage people physically and mentally with just a thought. And the best evidence of that came in the finale when Kayla infected Lance’s phone and got the drug dealer to ram his face into syringes.
It was revenge for him getting her mom hooked on drugs, leaving Kayla promising Beck vengeance will come only to those who deserve it. It also cemented Beck as a better “father” than John, as he didn’t even have to leave the confines of his office to create apprentices and offer them the chance to enact justice across the world. And seeing as controllers harnessed the life essence of the folks they killed, unlike Jigsaw’s followers, they could become an immortal army of executioners that cops couldn’t trace.
See how Kayla and Beck outdo Jigsaw’s movement in Choose or Die, now streaming on Netflix.
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