Two things are certain within the Saw franchise. If a character is on the receiving end of Charlie Clouser’s classic variation of the “Hello Zepp” theme, things will go south for them. The second is that even though John Kramer (Tobin Bell), known as Jigsaw, is on his deathbed, he intends to dishing out his brand of vigilante justice. Given the title character’s death in 2006’s Saw III, the franchise has had to reckon with driving his legacy through other characters and devoted followers. The games Jigsaw implements on others serve as a baptism of pain for a chance at a rebirth – frequently, they end up with a sense of assured calamity.
While the gnarly and downright teeth-clenching traps are present in Kevin Greutert’s return to the director’s chair, Saw X (taking place right after 2004’s Saw) is a deeper look at the man behind all those designs and contingency plans. John Kramer is down to the last days of his life. He’s been told that his brain tumor has progressed and has no chance of improving. Within that news, Kramer attends a cancer support group and hears a man speak about how an experimental treatment helped him get into remission from his stage four diagnosis. The Saw franchise might be anything but hopeful, but a man named Henry Kessler (Michael Beach) may have just given Kramer that gift.
This leads John to contact Cecilia Peterson (Synnøve Macody Lund), the daughter of a doctor conducting this revolutionary medical procedure, and asks him to come down to Mexico to meet with her team of doctors. Inconspicuously, a spot opens up for him to do so. With how convenient all this sounds, you can guess that this was all a scam. Thus, you understand when John Kramer gets into Jigsaw mode and does what he does best. After all, this cabal of people is despicable and deserves some punishment. So, Kramer and his faithful partner Amanda (a returning Shawnee Smith) round everybody up like so into an abandoned warehouse.
If you’re a Saw franchise veteran, you are used to seeing multitudes of people (mostly) fail at getting out of these traps outside of the peripheral of the organizer. Writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg allow Bell to be present for everything. It gives a different layer to what is going on. You see John Kramer’s visible disdain for these people and almost stubbornness to this code he’s built. Briefly, he and Amanda come at odds over a particular set of methods against one specific character. If you know how the story plays out, Amanda takes another course of action as Jigsaw’s apprentice. John, however, is adamant everybody has to go through the same circumstances.
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One of the best parts about Saw X is the inclusion of Macody Lund as a formidable foil to Jigsaw’s endless amounts of foresight. She’s the flip side of Jigsaw in that there is no space for ethics (if you consider Jigsaw even having one in the first place). That’s the little part that allows her to somewhat get the upper hand on him, and it’s an interesting way to put this character who always has an answer in peril. If you’re looking for the song and dance symphony of the traps, Saw X does provide that with some of the most brutal concoctions yet. However, it’s not so much the main attraction of this story – to its benefit.
The film is not necessarily out to plant the essence of John Kramer as good or bad, either. Does a nurse who steals from patients deserve to have their fingers broken in an eye trap? Most would say probably not. But Saw X provides that scenario against an extensive operation of defrauding terminal cancer patients. Perhaps there is no clear right or wrong in this world – only space for shades of gray and retaliatory measures.
The man who says he helps people overcome personal obstacles also engineers the games that might lead to their demise. This continuance/prequel shows there’s creative meat to the bone regarding the dubious nature of what that story means.
