"Saw X" - Back to formula, flaws and all

Josh
Aug 4, 2024
5 min read

Updated: Aug 10, 2024

Dir. Kevin Greutert (2023)

Yes, I would like to play a game, thank you.

Who would've thought that after almost a decade and 9 installments to the franchise, we would finally have a fitting sequel to Saw (2004). Like how the local cinema legends, James Wan and Leigh Whannell started the series, Saw X takes the franchise back to basics. It strips back all the filler found in previous installments, like cop procedurals, and keeps the majority of the movie in a single location with a group of people. Which is extremely refreshing when you line this up to the next the rest of its siblings in the filmography. And being the 10th movie in a franchise, its okay. Its not terrible. When I think of other horror franchises that have gone on for so long, I can't think of any that by the 10th movie I'm smiling with a mild approving nod. And not to mention it wears that X with pride. Most other horror flicks try to hide that fact they're on a number higher than 3 with a sub-title like 'revelations', 'the final chapter' or 'in space'.

The first half of Saw X starts not how I thought it would. My preconceptions of how these movies are meant to work was flipped around. Taking place between Saw and Saw II during the early days of Jigsaw's killing spree, we follow John Kramer (80 year old Tobin Bell) as he goes through early procedures of his cancer treatment. They finally made the man himself the actual star of the show which was the best choice as Tobin Bell has been carrying this franchise on his back. We see him go through brain scans, doctors appointments, last will and testament signing and support groups. Within one of his group sessions, he meets a man who is terminal with very limited time left, only to see him months later as healthy as a horse after taking a new form of cancer treatment that's not FDA approved. And out of desperation John asks for their details. I liked watching Kramer deal with his mortality. When the doctor tells him to take it easy until the clock runs out, John is seen throwing out blueprints for soon to be traps and finalising his will. Although, it's a bit of a slap in the face when you know how the rest of the franchise goes. Also, he is a serial killer so any bits of authentic emotion towards John falls flat.

Something strange during this opening, is they splice in the eye trap as seen on the poster as a dream sequence. Kramer see's a custodian about to steal items from an immobilised patient when it cuts to him in a trap, where he has to break his each of his fingers via a dial numbered 1 - 5 within a time frame or his eyes gets sucked out through some tubes. Not the best trap to start on as it's not very exciting. The custodian moves the dial one by one and fails (in a dream so at the end of the day it's pretty pointless), but why not just turn that dial all the way to 5 at the end. Break all fingers at once not like you're cutting them off. They will heal in a couple of months anyway.

So the movie really kicks off when John makes it to the treatment centre in Mexico where they apply the Breaking Bad Mexico gel to the lens. We meet all the key characters of the story but this is where the movie gets really predictable. You instantly know something is off about the facility and the way characters are introduced, they all have one characteristic that you know is going to be exploited in a trap. So, it's revealed that the owner of this operation Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund, who is fully hamming it up) is scamming cancer patients with a fake new treatment. They pretend to do the operation, drain the patient of their funds for the operation and then just let them die. And the movie tries to do some type of who's worse, these con-artists or Jigsaw. Which, the answer is both. Both are villains. The only benefit of this reveal is that you have a group of people and a main villain that you want to see die.

Here the lifetime looking drama is over and we're in our primary location with all our key players. We get some pretty fun traps and gore effects. We have a pretty comical looking trap as a man has scalpels duct taped to his hands and needs to remove pipe bombs that are wired into his arms (somehow without having cutting an artery) or a really fun bit where the phoney brain surgeon (Octavio Hinojosa) has to remove parts of his brain. Although, it wouldn't be a Saw movie without some twists, and this movie has 3 full twists. With 2 almost back to back. After our first twist of the surgery being fake, a fan favourite character Amanda (Shawnee Smith) returns with a bad Spock haircut and it's revealed that Jigsaw knew the characters will breakout of their trap and he's planned for that. Firstly, those first 2 twists wouldn't be a problem but the way they're presented acts like they should be revealed at the end of the movie. The camera spins, flashbacks to earlier scenes from different perspectives as the classic Saw them swells. It really lessened the impact for me at the end when the real twist happens. Which leads into the main problem with all these Saw movies which is, Jigsaw knows and plans for everything. Even in this movie when a trap goes pear shaped it all still works out in his favour. He know a Cecilia was going to call another specific character when she easily could've called anyone else, he know she and her partner where both going to run for the cash (also, when she picks up the bag of money red lights start flashing and neither character thinks to try and instantly get out of the room after everything they've been through. Which they could've done because you see in the background the exit door remaining open for 20 seconds) and even though it wasn't in the plan he knew exactly what this kid would do. Oh yes, they brought a child into the traps which didn't sit right with me.

Maybe it's a form of longing for a new decent Saw movie, but this movie was a lot of fun once the old Jigsaw reared his head. Once you get past the long first half with a vague attempt at sympathy for Kramer, the actual traps are well done and entertaining. If you've seen previous Saw movies, you know the drill, try not to think about the timeline or how Jigsaw manages to pull off these elaborate theatrics.