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Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: lionsgate, Review, saw x
Saw X Review: The Knives Are Still Plenty Sharp in This Franchise
Saw X might be the tenth film but proves that with the focus on the right characters and with the right crew, the knives are still plenty sharp in this franchise.
Saw X might be the tenth film, but it proves that with the focus on the right characters and crew, the knives are still plenty sharp in this franchise.
Director: Kevin Greutert
Summary: John Kramer (Tobin 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.
Sometimes, the only way forward is back, which seems to be the case for the Saw franchise. After John Kramer died, it was clear that the films were trying to move on without him, but something was missing without his presence looming over everything. It wouldn't be the first horror franchise to try and move beyond a signature villain and be unable to. Fortunately for the Saw franchise, there are some gaps to fill in regarding Kramer's life, and that is the intent of Saw X or Saw 1.5 because it takes place between the first and second movies. So, in some ways, this should be a relatively approachable film because we are pretty early in the timeline and the lore, and that does seem to be the intent.
Saw X doesn't waste any time in the beginning by showing us the eyeball trap that is all over the marketing within the first minutes of the film beginning. However, everything slows down after we watch Kramer do something incredibly human: try to extend his own life. Being terminally ill means that until you come to terms with your own death, you want to live, and you'll do anything to live. To see what happens when people take advantage of someone at their most vulnerable humanizes Kramer. We understand why he is "working" with this group of con artists.
Tobin Bell is a truly magnetic presence on screen, and no one in the production has been shy about this being the most we have seen him on screen. There isn't any hiding who he is; there isn't any using Billy to conceal anything; it's just Kramer himself doing the job he believes is righteous. It is entirely understandable, even as someone with no knowledge of this franchise, why no one is interested without him on screen. The way he absolutely dominates a room, even as he isn't a large presence, is incredible. It's imposing and unnerving, and the moments when he is quiet and you know something is coming are the moments when the tension is the worst because it feels like you're inches away from a deadly cobra, and you have no idea if it's about to strike.
Bell is backed up by a great supporting cast, with Shawnee Smith also proving why people always found Amanda to be such a compelling character. Our unfortunate crowd of misfits is all fun to watch, but Synnøve Macody Lund, as the head doctor who is scamming people, captures that energy of someone who thinks they are the most intelligent person in the room. If there was anyone you were really hoping would fail their test, it's her.
One would think the tension would come from the traps and whether or not any of these people will survive. They are rather brutal, but for several of them, it becomes pretty apparent who will fail and who will succeed within seconds of the countdown beginning, which alleviates some of the tension. There are three in particular that are probably really going to get to people when it comes to the cringe factor, but after consulting fellow fans of the franchise, we have been informed that gore-wise, what we get from Saw X is about what you expect from the franchise.
The thing about the Saw movies and franchises that expand the boundaries of horror is that it's either something you are willing to watch or it isn't. For many people, no matter how fascinating the lore of this franchise might be or how much someone might wax poetic [rightfully] about how good Tobin Bell is in Saw X, if looking at the poster with the eyeball trap is too much, they aren't going to watch it, and that's fine. Horror is a vast genre, and there is a segment of it for most people, and the segment of it that Saw X falls into isn't for everyone.
However, if someone was on the fence and went into Saw X to see if that was the thing that would convert them? Perhaps, in many ways, Saw X proves there is so much more to this franchise than just torture porn, which is the reputation many people have slapped on these films. This is a tricky genre to come around to, though, but this might be enough to get someone to watch the first film, and it could be all over from there. It's a decent one to start with knowing almost nothing about the franchise because it is framed in a way that even if you don't understand why the audience is freaking out, you understand why X is important to the story.
Saw X seems to have all of the pieces to the puzzle to make those who know the lore and the story very happy. It's a throwback to when the franchise was at its best, and right after, it threw out one of the best twist endings in horror movie history. Often, when creatives say a film is "for the fans," it comes across as disingenuous, but this doesn't feel like that. All the fans wanted was more John, maybe more Amanda, and that was about it. This film delivers on that. For the newbies, it'll be enough to show you that there is more to Saw than just, well, sawing, but if you're really not into any of that, you won't be into this one either. Your corner of horror is elsewhere; you'll love it when you find it, but this corner will be sitting pretty [and a little bloody] this weekend.
Saw X
7/10
Saw X seems to have all of the pieces to the puzzle to make those who know the lore and the story very happy. It's a throwback to when the franchise was at its best, and right after, it threw out one of the best twist endings in horror movie history.
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