John Kramer (Tobin Bell) has been diagnosed with cancer, and he’s been given only months to live. When he has nowhere else to turn, he looks to an off-the-grid team that ensures that their combination of a drug cocktail and surgery is having incredible success among cancer patients. Saw X, a prequel to the franchise’s original film, sees Jigsaw navigating a much more personal series of games–and those that have wronged him will be forced to play along.
Saw X takes viewers back toward the beginning of the notorious Jigsaw murders, to a place where John Kramer began taking things more personally–and that ultimately puts this film on a unique path compared to the others. There is always a well-written story, one that resonates with viewers and allows them to understand the place from which John comes–but this is different. Saw X is far more personal, far different in that regard from the other films from the franchise. John is front and center here, not hiding behind a video or a record. While those aspects of the film still exist, while they still play a role in the film, John is the catalyst for everything that occurs throughout the course of Saw X. With him being more physically present, viewers are able to connect with him, to understand him better than before–and the film ultimately shifts in a way that I never thought possible.
While John has always existed on the cusp of being commended for his drastic actions against the morally incompetent, Saw X actually sees him as the protagonist, the good guy. Seeing him remain front and center throughout the course of the film, constantly voicing the reasons behind why he’s doing these things provides viewers more clarity than ever before, and we are sucked into this story in a way that I’m not sure was possible earlier in the franchise. Like any good horror film, Saw X employs a series of twists and turns, misdirections that allow viewers to continue to play along throughout–and there were moments when it seemed that John had finally met his match, that his end would come (in one way or another). I found myself rooting for him, hoping that he would make it out unscathed, and that the serial killer would ultimately emerge victorious.
John is developed in a way that I hadn’t seen before in the franchise, in a way that made it possible for me and other viewers to not only understand him, but like him. Another series regular, however, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), seems to suffer in Saw X. It seems apparent that Writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg wanted to make her more dynamic in this film, more relatable like they did with John, but I’m afraid that the opposite is true of her. With John being so likable throughout the duration of Saw X, Amanda’s dialogue and her actions conflict with him, making it difficult to side with her or appreciate her point of view. She’s the one hiccup that remains present throughout a good portion of the film, and by the end I was scratching my head trying to understand her role in the film’s narrative.
The Saw franchise is known to many as a blood-soaked gore fest, one that is driven forward only by the series of torments present in each film. While this plays a pivotal role in the franchise as a whole, what has allowed it to remain separate from other films of the genre (and so prominent) is the fact that it possesses a code of morals and ethics. Saw and its counterparts aren’t violence for the sake of violence, they are violence with a purpose. Saw X is no different, but this installment pulls viewers in closer to that code and allows them to better understand what has transpired over the course of the past almost twenty years. Things become more clear, and Saw X thrives as a result of it being able to appeal to viewers in this moral sense.
I think the world sort of knows what to expect from the Saw franchise at this point, so most of what occurs throughout Saw X isn’t much of a surprise–but the film effectively ups the ante and builds on what viewers already know and love about the series. With Bell/John Kramer present throughout the entirety of the film, being physically hands on with all that transpires, I felt that Saw X makes him more relevant and relatable. Bell employs his best performance to date, and Saw X may just be the franchise’s best installment yet.
Directed by Kevin Greutert.
Written by Pete Goldfinger & Josh Stolberg.
Starring Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Renata Vaca, Joshua Okamoto, Octavio Hinojosa, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
