Directed By Kevin Greutert

Starring – Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnove Macody Lund

The Plot – John Kramer (Bell) is back. The most chilling installment of the SAW franchise yet explores the untold chapter of Jigsaw’s most personal game. Set between the events of SAW I and II, a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer, only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, John returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through a series of ingenious and terrifying traps.

Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, adult language and some drug use.

SAW X (2023) Official Trailer – Tobin Bell – YouTube

POSITIVES

While Tobin Bell is undoubtedly still the single most important element of this franchise, Kevin Greutert might be a close second, and with his third direction inside of the long-running horror franchise, he’s able to garner some of that respect and legitimacy for its fanbase, which it lost during the last few uninspiring efforts. For starters, the script by Josh Stolber and Pete Goldfinger is far more integral than most installments, with a fleshed out backstory in narrative that carefully takes its time setting up the backstory of Kramer. This is meaningful in a lot of ways, but mostly with how it not only competently sets the stage for Jigsaw’s gruesome games, but also in articulating the backstory of Kramer himself, which feels more focused than any previous effort has even attempted to this point, while making us wait longer than usual to indulge upon our sweet tooth for carnage candy. Because of such, Kramer definitely feels more like a traditional protagonist this time around, both with the benefits of an empathetic backstory, which sets him up as an unforeseen victim, but also in the satisfaction with how the games play out, where we can’t wait to see these ruthless bastards get what they rightfully deserve by tricking the terminally ill into having hope. Their deaths would be enough satisfaction for the cause, but the script is wise enough to throw a wrench in the plans of conventionalism, allowing a couple of them to survive, which with it instills a surprising element of unpredictability that draws you all the more engaged into the plights of character perils. The kills themselves are still every bit creative as they are satisfying for horror hounds like myself, with intricacies in imaginative sound designs and detailed prosthetics sparing no opportunity in making the most of its coveted R-rating. As expected, no two traps ever feel similar, nor does their feel like a weakness between them, with each producing these gut-wrenching difficult conflicts that test them in ways the audience can’t even begin to imagine. The orchestrator of these is obviously Bell, who hands in his most emotionally complex portrayal of the entire franchise by tying a seamless link between the vulnerable frailty of Kramer and the powerful mystique of Jigsaw, making them feel more synonymous than any installment previously. Bell is once again joined by Shawnee Smith’s Amanda, which isn’t a spoiler considering the trailer itself heavily features her. Smith unfortunately dons the worst wig that money can by, but isn’t deterred nonetheless, instead articulating an equally complex balance between her warmth and admiration for John, with the menacing glee she takes in torturing her prisoners. Finally, if nothing else, Charlie Clouser’s iconic imprint on the franchise once more exhillarates with amplified urgency inside of these tense predicaments, with the highlight of such obviously being “Hello Zep”, which we’ve come to expect during each film’s climax. Clouser doesn’t eviscerate the familiarity of his tracks, but is ambitious enough to subtly tweak them in ways that feel freshly innovative to the sequences they accompany, giving us instrumental unravelings that feel nearly twenty years in the making.

NEGATIVES

With so much going right inside of the freshly innovative approaches that Greutert and company commissions, it’s unfortunate that the evidential weakness for the film and my interpretation came during a third act that leaves a lot more to be desired. Part of the reason for this certainly lends itself to the extent of the traditional twist during the aforementioned “Hello Zep” track of Charlie Clouser’s score, with a reveal this time that didn’t even qualify as a twist, if you know what to expect from these characters. But so much more of the disappointment alligned with the movements during the final moments, where the pay-off on one particular character is implied instead of visualized, leaving me groaning during the film’s most defining moments. Because so much of the film is refreshing from a creative capacity, its floundering of the exclamation point on the engagement quite honestly took it down a complete grading point for me, leaving it inches from competing with the original as the best installment of the entire franchise. In addition to this, the one weakness that Greutert makes is still indulging in the instances of editing that have provided such an eyesore during certain scene transitions. While it’s not as heavily utilized as previous chapters, the rush cuts that speed up a character in peril are still an unfortunate aspect of the depictions, as they eviscerate focus with an outdated artistic imprint that should’ve died by the fourth film in this franchise. Lastly, plot conveniences and unanswered questions are littered casually all over the place, even finding their way into the dialogue of one of Jigsaw’s traps, which doesn’t make them any less distracting. One character involved in this scam goes unaddressed and unexplored, which brough more questions the longer the film persisted, and likewise Jigsaw’s ability to build so many traps inside of a foreign land, with little money or access to supplies, required more suspension of disbelief than I would appreciate, even in a Saw franchise installment.

OVERALL
“Saw X” is a refreshing return to form for a franchise that felt gutted in originality by 2008. With a far greater focus on John Kramer, a meaningful plot to go with the visceral devastation, and a killer performance from Bell in its grasp, Greutert is able to seamlessly elicit the urgency and excitement that once made this franchise such a game-changer, in turn leaving us optimistic for a future that conjures some alluring new angles and insights.

My Grade: 7/10 or B