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With: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Renata Vaca, Joshua Okamoto, Octavio Hinojosa, Paulette Hernández, Jorge Briseño, Costas Mandylor, Michael Beach
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Written by: Josh Stolberg, Pete Goldfinger
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Directed by: Kevin Greutert
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MPAA Rating: R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and some drug use
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Running Time: 118
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Date: 09/29/2023
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The Jig Is Up
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
For once focusing on characters and motivations, here, three movies after an entry called Saw: The Final Chapter, we get a surprise: an actual good Saw movie, and the best since the original 2004 Saw.
John Kramer (Tobin Bell), the Jigsaw killer, has been diagnosed with brain cancer, and the prognosis is not good. After some time, he runs into Henry (Michael Beach), whom he remembers from a cancer support group. Henry tried a radical new cure and has been in remission for months. Kramer contacts Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund), whose father invented the new cure, a combination of a drug cocktail and surgery.
After his treatment, Kramer begins to feel better. He even contemplates giving up his Jigsaw ways. But when he tries to bring a thank-you present to his helpers, he makes a shocking discovery: it was all a scam. So, with help from his loyal apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith), he assembles several new traps, and a sinister new plan, to make the fraudsters see the error of their ways.
Directed by Kevin Greutert (Saw VI, Saw: The Final Chapter), Saw X begins by taking an unusual approach. It focuses on the thoughts and feelings of its killer, and gives star Bell the long-awaited chance to do some actual acting. While in the hospital, he sees a custodian contemplating stealing the personal belongings of a terminal patient. Kramer imagines one of his torture devices, breaking the man's fingers and worse, but the man reconsiders and puts things back. "Wise choice," says Kramer.
Kramer actually believes he's doing good in the world. Attempting to get wrong-doers to see the errors of their ways. He doesn't even call it revenge or retribution. He calls it a "reawakening." (He even nearly has his own reawakening, until he realizes his work is not finished.)
The traps here are just as grisly, but this time we pay attention to Bell's grim face, watching, waiting to see if his work with be in vain or not. It helps that his relationship with Amanda seems honest, and even touching. (She sobs when she realizes he's going to die.) However, no matter how it's phrased, Saw X is indeed about revenge, but — given that the target here was hope itself — this time it makes sense.
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