\n<\/p>\n
For better or worse, I\u2019m fascinated by the \u201cSaw\u201d movies \u2014 mesmerized by their inventively staged kills, in which victims are locked into medieval-looking contraptions and given a choice: a) hack off a limb or scramble an eyeball or b) face certain death by bear-trap helmet or ribcage-ripping metal claw; infinitely amused by the soap opera-esque narrative used to string together, and sort of justify, these sadistic games. I\u2019ve willingly stuck it out through every movie in the horror series, so there\u2019s no use beating around the bush: \u201cSaw\u201d is my kind of trash.<\/p>\n
For all its inanities, \u201cSaw X,\u201d the 10th \u201cSaw\u201d movie, should hit the bar for the like-minded: the traps are disgusting; the plot, so self-serious its absurd (and knowingly so). And unlike the sundry sequels before it (by the third \u201cSaw,\u201d any pretense of ingenuity had been hacked off), this one manages to make you feel something beyond gross-out adrenaline \u2014 assuming you have affection for the franchise\u2019s mainstays.<\/p>\n
The first \u201cSaw\u201d movie, released in 2004 and written by the fresh-faced creative team of James Wan (who also directed) and Leigh Whannell, was an edgy novelty, unleashing one of the most sordid trends in Hollywood horror, so-called torture porn \u2014 an unintentional nod to the war on terror\u2019s abused military detainees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), is an avenging angel with brain cancer. He appears \u2014 like Jason or Freddie Krueger \u2014 in every edition of \u201cSaw.\u201d You could say he\u2019s the franchise\u2019s beating heart. According to his arbitrary logic (what is good and evil, anyway?), he kidnaps wrongdoers and places them in his rusty traps. Those who manage to escape often gain a new lease on life, and, bizarrely, we\u2019re rooting for creaky old John more than any of his would-be disciples. In \u201cSaw X,\u201d he winkingly refers to himself as a \u201clife coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The events of Jigsaw\u2019s latest flesh-fest are set between \u201cSaw\u201d and \u201cSaw 2.\u201d John, our ailing antihero, heads to Mexico for an experimental medical procedure that turns out to be a big fat scam. The crooks behind the swindle become his future victims. The director, Kevin Greutert, puts a surprising amount of effort into building out the arc of the betrayal John suffers, beefing up the stakes in ways that the previous, hyper-nihilistic \u201cSaw\u201d movies never bothered to address.<\/p>\n
Set on the outskirts of Mexico City, the film employs a jaundiced sepia filter to signal the shift to exotic territory, and though the plot entails a white guy knocking off Latinos, the more robust setup muffles bad-faith accusations of racism \u2014 not that the film\u2019s commentary on such matters is sophisticated; in this world of juvenile thrills, we all look the same on the inside. This \u201cSaw\u201d avoids the dreary political baiting of \u201cSpiral,\u201d<\/a> the 2021 spinoff, which linked the Jigsaw killer\u2019s moral mandate to the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n In any case, the biggest baddie, the swindle\u2019s ringleader, is a coldblooded Scandinavian, Dr. Cecilia Pederson (Synnove Macody Lund), who may care less about her Spanish-speaking underlings than John himself.<\/p>\n The Robin to Jigsaw\u2019s Batman, \u201cSaw\u201d regular Amanda (Shawnee Smith) shows up to help the boss-man with his latest stunt, kidnapping Cecilia and three of her colluders. One-by-one, each victim plays their game, punctuated by John and Amanda\u2019s soul-baring huddle-talks, Cecilia\u2019s pitiless scheming (one maneuver involves a rope made out of a casualty\u2019s intestines), and, for devotees, fist-pump-inducing appearances by symbols from the extended \u201cSaw\u201d universe \u2014 like a puppet reminiscent of a shrunken-head Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This is the most well-groomed \u201cSaw\u201d movie to date. The story mostly makes sense and Greutert pulls back on the frenetic editing techniques that made the older movies look like the blood and guts equivalent of white noise. Bell\u2019s Jigsaw is the same placid psychopath we\u2019ve come to rely on for gruesome titillation (and a few snickers) and here, he\u2019s a little cuddly, too \u2014 just like the fans always thought he was.<\/p>\n Saw X<\/strong>
Rated R for graphic torture scenes and drug abuse. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n