I had planned to watch a different film for review today, but due to what I can only describe as stupidity on my part, I tried to watch a screener for a different film entirely, rather than Life of Belle as I had planned (had I taken a second to glance at my schedule), and the screener I tried to watch didn't have a working link. As I had wanted to watch a horror at night, I swiftly went through my streaming apps and chose Saw X, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
I have always had a fondness for the Saw franchise, though wouldn't describe myself as a true fan as I have only seen six out of the currently ten movies. Later entries have played around with the formula a bit, and sometimes that has not worked at all, with the previous entry Spiral: From the Book of Saw being truly terrible. I had a muted expectation for Saw X then, but this time around it gets things right a lot more then it gets things wrong.
From the outset it is clear that this film is a prequel, mainly because series antagonist John Kramer (Tobin Bell - Gates of Darkness, Saw franchise) is alive and well (maybe not well as he is dying of cancer). The film bridges the gap between Saw and Saw II, and sees John heading off to Mexico where he has made contact with a doctor named Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund) who promises him she is able to perform an experimental operation to cure him of his brain cancer. After the apparent surgery at a remote facility has gone successfully, John decides he wants to return there to give thanks to the staff who helped him. Instead he finds the place deserted, and discovers that his surgery was a scam carried out by Pederson in order to fleece John and other desperate people out of their money. Going into Jigsaw mode, he decides to round up all the people involved in the scam so that he can play a game with them...
I have always felt it was a stupid move to kill off Kramer so early in the Saw series, it seemed like this was an issue for the filmmakers as well, as they always find a way to insert the iconic character back into the subsequent films, whether via flashbacks or pre-recorded messages. Saw X is the first film in which the mastermind takes a front and centre role as protagonist, showing a vaguely softer side to the character, as well as displaying his morality in a more clear fashion. For the series it felt novel to view the film from his perspective, and it was neat how long it took to get to the horror. The first thirty five minutes are mostly terror free, showing him in his non-murderous life. If you like the character of John Kramer then this one has the most of him there has ever been, with him a constant on screen character from beginning to end of this nearly two hour movie. The actor is getting older now, but the difference in age due to twenty years having passed from where this is meant to take place wasn't an issue.
Less easy to look away from was the inclusion of Amanda (Shawnee Smith reprising her role), the actress looks far older than the age of the character she's playing which was slightly distracting, but it was cool that the original actors are still being cast in the roles despite the distance in real life time.
As for the victims, they are mostly forgettable, though a few standout. Pederson is an over the top villain who shows no remorse even when she is forced into the games. This made her a bit of a generic bad guy, but this pure evil person worked as a foil to Kramer, and made you as the viewer want to root for him to succeed, something previous films have never had me wanting. She was almost his opposite with her having not even a twisted sense of morality like John does. I thought Renata Vaca as Gabriela was decent, mainly due to what they did with her character in relation to Amanda, as for the others they were mainly blank slates.
The traps are of course the draw, and things don't really begin on a great foot. The very first kill is inserted in early into the movie and appears to be a complete fabrication, taking place entirely within John's mind when he witnesses an orderly stealing jewellery from a coma patient and imagines what game he would make the man play. This felt odd having a daydream shown on screen, it felt like this was only included to give some violence and gore in the movies horror free first act.
Later when the games really begin things improve. There was a more D.I.Y feel to the kills, with them all taking place in one room, rather than the maze like arenas victims often find themselves in. While Billy the puppet and Dictaphones make an appearance, John is more hands on, appearing in person to speak with the victims. You have the usual nastiness, including blood water boarding, and having to feed traps bone marrow and brain tissue in order to disable them. The gore and special effects are the same as always, nasty looking, but by this point I am kind of numb to the body horror. I felt that the body count was quite lower than what I would expect, though not being a strong fan of the series I'm not sure what the average kill count is per film.
I was more impressed with the story, some red herrings led to a genuine surprise at where the revenge plot went to. It was also refreshing to see John's interactions with characters he viewed as pure. It isn't Shakespeare but it was entertaining.
Saw X found another new way to breath life into the series, while at times it threatened to be a bit too by the numbers, later twists helped alleviate the repetitive feel. Telling a smaller self contained story, while putting the series antagonist into a slightly more relatable protagonist role, this was a much better film than the abysmal prior one, and seems a return to form. Apparently Saw XI is going to serve as a sequel to this one rather than return to the present, I think that is probably a good idea.
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