MOVIE REVIEW: SAW X (R)
After funnyman Chris Rock attempted to put his own spin on the “Saw” mythos with 2021’s “Spiral,” Tobin Bell returns in “John Kramer and the Saw of Destiny,” aka “Saw 10,” the latest in the long-running horror franchise that started nearly two decades ago. It’s a movie that’s often at odds with itself because it dares to offer more heart than one might expect from one of these films and some might argue that “Saw” movies aren’t meant to have a heart, at least not of the metaphorical kind.
Taking place shortly after the events of the first film, “Saw X” finds John Kramer (Tobin Bell), aka Jigsaw, seeking a miracle cure for the cancer that is ravaging his brain, but once he comes into contact with a handful of real unsavory types, the game, as they say, is afoot once more. Almost immediately, Jigsaw is back at it, forcing individuals to choose their own fate as he continues to confront his own mortality.
There is no question that Bell is the lifeblood of this series so it should come as no surprise that this particular entry spends its first 30 minutes putting us in the dramatic headspace of Kramer. This proves to be a strange decision and an oddly satisfying one at the same time. Strange because, again, this is a “Saw” movie. The majority of the gorehounds who go to these films go for the same reason a lot of horror fans go to see “Final Destination” movies. Translation; It’s generally all about the kills. Therefore the idea that the first half hour of this movie follows Kramer as he looks to save himself from something that is completely out of his control, might unsettle viewers who are simply in it for the deathtraps. On the other hand, there is a component of this stuff that is oddly satisfying because Bell is legitimately good, here.
Also returning to the fold is Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young, a would-be victim who would ultimately end up serving as an apprentice to Jigsaw’s master. Bell and Smith do share some genuinely touching moments in this movie and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write when penning a “Saw” review. The rest of the cast is a mixed bag with Synnove Macody Lund and Costas Mandylor proving to be the strongest of the supporting players.
As expected, there’s plenty of gore and dark humor to be found in “Saw X” but as for the traps, a “Saw” trademark, they’ve become increasingly boring. The final act puts a handful of characters through the proverbial ringer but quite honestly, it wasn’t as cringe-inducing as one might expect…That is until director Kevin Greutert (the helmer of “Saw VI” and “Saw 3D”) and screenwriters Josh Stolberg & Peter Goldfinger, opt to put a kid in peril. At that point, for better or for worse, they got my attention.
“Saw X” (which clocks in at an overly long 1 hour and 58 minutes) also offers up the prerequisite twists and turns, some of which are pretty obvious and others that would cause the makers of “The Game” to simultaneously scratch their heads. I mean…I know it’s only a movie but the fashion in which some of the characters in this film are able to anticipate each other’s moves, comes across as pretty darn silly, even for a “Saw” entry. Also silly is the idea that a movie with as much blood, guts, and carnage as “Saw X” has to offer, would dare to make a statement about guns. All of that said, if I’m grading on a curve, this is probably one of the better installments in the series and again, that’s mostly because of more-than-game Tobin Bell is leading the trap-infested charge.
