Saw X – Review

Do I have a bit of Stockholm Syndrome with this franchise? When first watching James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s 2004 shocker I was a youth of 16. I watched it on a laptop at 1 a.m. and still remember how blown away I was by the film’s climax. I would go on to see each consecutive movie in theatres, sold on the ridiculously convoluted lore that real Saw fans have convinced themselves is charming. There’s been a bit of a break since we last got Tobin Bell in a central role and now, 13 years after Saw 3D, we’ve been gifted with a new installment.

It may be the best film in the entire franchise.

Stepping away from spinoffs and copycat killers, Saw X focuses on a John Kramer (Tobin Bell) in the wake of the first film. Adam is locked in the basement, Dr. Gordon’s foot rotting on the floor, and he’s taking some time to muse over his brain cancer. He goes to support groups, cringing along with the audience as a guidance counselor tells them all, “This time is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present!” He becomes angry at doctors telling him that accepting his fate will make his final days happier. While writing his will at an outdoor coffee shop he runs into Henry Kessler (Michael Beach), a fellow support group attendee, and notices that he has completely recovered. Kessler tells him of an experimental treatment created by one Dr. Pederson, based in Norway but run out of the country by the need for things like health board approval. After contacting them, John heads to Mexico City to meet with Pederson’s daughter and get a miracle cure into his veins.

The trouble is that these people are snake oil salesmen, led by the doctor’s daughter Cecelia Pederson (Norwegian actress/model/film critic Synnøve Macody Lund), and they have hoodwinked a multitude of rich cancer patients into paying them to pretend that they were saved. John is naturally pretty pissed off and, with the aid of Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) and Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), kidnaps the group and begins to subject them to his twisted games.

Right off the bat let us acknowledge that this is the best-looking film in the series, bar none. It steps away from the grainy green and yellow filters, from the warehouse-only locations, and from the grime that could only be slathered on by a set designer who has seen Se7en too many times. Director of Photography Nick Matthews captures Bell’s bleak, sad visage in the sunlight for the first time. Jigsaw is out amongst the general public, talking with regular people on the street, and speaking with doctors in rooms with windows (a franchise first). Saw X takes its time to get grisly, spending an hour on a character study that gives some foundation to the silly, freshman philosophy student logic that Jigsaw will later spout.

And then it does indeed get pretty gnarly.

Traps are the centerpieces of the Saw series, along with Billy the Puppet and some sort of rendition of “Hello, Zep” (yes, Charlie Clouser does indeed return to score this latest installment). Fans of the franchise will be gifted with the best gore imaginable, with practical effects taking the lead and only a touch of CGI to sand off some rough edges (and limbs). Production designer Anthony Stabley takes a new approach to the kills, utilizing this team of fake doctors’ very real equipment to create a revenge game that feels much angrier than anything we’ve seen so far.

I truly feel that this is the first film in the franchise that can be viewed in a vacuum. Everyone knows the twist of Saw by osmosis at this point. You can walk into Saw X and merely see the next chapter of the story, free of flashbacks or things to be explained in later films and ridiculous explanations for things you saw previously. There’s a sweetness to Tobin Bell’s performance that feels justified before the credits roll. Tough to say about a man whose most famous invention is a reverse bear trap but it’s real. This franchise has yearned for Smith and Bell to return as the heart of this odd story and they finally take center stage, humanizing one of them and allowing the other more time in the field. I’m in awe (aghast?) that this was pulled off so elegantly.

Saw X is currently in theatres.