Saw X may be the best film of the series since James Wan's original. Why would that be? It's immersed in emotion missing from most of the episodes in this wonderful bloody soap opera.
It takes place between Saw II and III, as John Kramer is grooming his young sous chef of torture, Amanda. So he's already put some folks through his engineering terrors of decision making at this point. Here, however, John has discovered something missing from the previous two films.
Hope.
At a group therapy session, he encounters a man on the brink. A short few months later, he re-encounters him at the peak of health. He tells Kramer of a foreign treatment method, illegal here in the states, that works wonders in the curing of cancer. He appears to have proof and a website that connects John to a woman who promises the impossible and John accepts.
It's all an act designed to take Kramer's money while performing a sham procedure.
John Kramer is the wrong guy to fuck with; after all, the man is Jigsaw.
Tobin Bell is at his peak here. The obvious pain he goes through upon realization that it's all a crock of shit really hits home. The performance is on par with the previous movies, but you see a side of him that you haven't before and it's heartbreaking. Especially to those of us who have lost people to the monster known as Cancer.
Of all the horror/slasher franchises, John may be the monster with the most, or possibly "only" heart. You've seen flashes of it before, but not like it is here. And that sadness and disappointment is carried with Kramer throughout the film. It doesn't bury his rage, but partially obscures it as he and Amanda go to work drawing their pound of flesh. No pun intended.
No one he targets is a good person. Do these thieving folks deserve the degree of retribution Kramer inflicts? That's doubtful. However, the horrible crimes perpetrated by those lying to and robbing from the dying by introducing them to false hope before emptying their wallets is all too disgusting, and all too realistic in this world.
What they do may be just as vicious as what John does. It just doesn’t come with traps capable of dismembering and crushing and piercing. But it comes with no motivation other than monetary gain.
Somehow that is just as sick.
And in spite of myself, and the empathic person I can be, I found myself cheering (before catching myself) for a mass murderer.
But hey, there's evil in all corners of the world. Who's to say what evil is more vile than a different evil? Which one has more moral ground?
That's what makes Saw X a brilliant film. Not just a sequel, but film. Those questions.
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