MOVIE REVIEW: SAW X

 

Hoping for a miraculous cure, John Kramer travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure, only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, the infamous serial killer uses deranged and ingenious traps to turn the tables on the con artists.

Director: Kevin Greutert

Cast:  Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Renata Vaca

Release Date: September 29, 2023

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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

Runtime: 1h 58m

Saw X really has very little reason to exist with pretty much every permutation of the gory franchise seemingly exhausted including a semi reboot since the primary character is dead.  Smartly, the script moves the action back in time by placing it shortly after the original entry.  Doing so strips away all the mythology and entanglements of the future installments resulting in a leaner, more focused story that highlights Tobin Bell's John Kramer.  The opening act allows the audience to spend time with Kramer and his search for salvation from his terminal cancer.  Its surprisingly restrained character study also gives Tobin Bell plenty of time to show off some of his acting chops before the story moves into its gruesome menagerie of bodily harm.  This set up gives us enough insight into Kramer's mentality to make him engaging on a human level.  Bell can still deliver sinister game instructions with sinister zeal but here the man is far more interesting.  Shawnee Smith returns as Kramer's aspiring apprentice, Amanda, which gives the character another layer that hadn't been explored enough in previous entries.  Smith, sporting a Vulcan wig, and Bell have solid chemistry together onscreen which makes their mentorship relationship far more interesting and engaging.  The plot allows this to blossom naturally by keeping everything very linear by having the entire group of victims on stage at once.  Those victims are played with varying levels of effectiveness with Synnøve Macody Lund, a doctor by way of Swedish Bikini team, and Octavio Hinojosa bringing the most energy to their performances even if they serve as little more than meat for the grinder.  There are still plenty of plot holes, logical leaps and telegraphed surprises, something that's plagued the series, Saw X still manages to be one of the best entries in the long running series.  

B