Set between the events of Saw, and Saw 2, we follow a desperate John Kramer as he searches for a cure for his Cancer. A promising new treatment leads him to Mexico City where a group of miracle doctors promise to have that cure. But unfortunately for John, the group of doctors he found are a group of con artists…and unfortunately for these fake doctors, they just conned Jigsaw.
Saw X is such a great entry in the franchise because it feels as though it is finally moving in the direction the franchise has needed to go for years. Gone are the over convoluted police storylines that become more confusing than anything. What remains is a character study of John Kramer, that puts him as a character into a much clearer perspective than the other movies ever have.
This, above all else, is a John Kramer story, and the performance given by Tobin Bell is the main reason it works like it does, he is phenomenal. Shawnee Smith also makes a long-awaited return to the screen as Amanda Young, and she also delivers a great performance. Honestly, everyone here gives a solid performance that fits into the narrative they are trying to tell.
Another thing Saw X gets right are the traps, and test sequences. These traps feel like classic Jigsaw traps that are brutal, but you just can’t take your eyes away from the screen. Something that I felt was lost along the way as the other installments of the Saw series came out was the connection of the trap to its victim. They just progressively became about getting the most gore on screen and they started to feel hollow. This movie does away with all of that and gives its victims personal traps for them. One of my only real complaints about the movie, however, is some of the circumstances in the trap scenes. The filmmaker asks you to suspend your disbelief with a few of them and there were a few times that I just couldn’t. I got pulled out of the movie two or three times thinking “I think that person probably would’ve gone into shock and passed out”.
The tone of this movie is also something that I find leaning in its favor. This feels like one of the grittier old-school Saw movies. The camera does some crazy, wild spinning from time to time, and the locations are as grimy as ever. I also found it interesting how the movie has a handful of moments of levity, and humor. I want to be clear, however, the movie isn’t telling jokes. The funny bits throughout this movie work because it’s like the audience is in on an inside joke, and that is what makes the bits work. I just found it very interesting how they manage to maintain the tone through these moments of levity.
All in all, Saw X is the breath of fresh air this series has needed for a long time. I don’t know why it took these filmmakers so long to realize that John Kramer is one of their most interesting characters, so maybe stop pushing him to the sidelines. Before this new installment, I was getting quite tired of these movies being pushed out with no heart, but if this is the kind of story they want to tell going forward, I am ready to play another game.
Photo Credit: Lionsgate