In the shadow of The Wages of Fear

Sorcerer, I feel, is focused more on bringing to life the hook of its plot rather than focusing more on its substance and characters. More than anything, seeing this film finally has only given me a greater appreciation for the very, slow pace of The Wages of Fear.

What that film gives you as opposed to here is time to bask in the environment better and really get to know and genuinely care for each of the four main drivers and their safety, and that was something that I felt was REALLY lacking here. I didn’t feel much chemistry or bond between any of these characters, and for that reason, I was more concerned with the trucks safety rather than theirs.

As you’d expect with Friedkin, the filmmaking and editing is as bold and audacious as its ever going to be, with Sorcerer very much sustaining that lingering anxiety that was always present in my viewing of Wages, just the fact that any of these two trucks could explode anytime, anywhere, just like that, with the click of a finger, yet besides that phenomenal bridge scene, I did feel most of its suspense and set pieces to be lackluster and not as calculated or rewarding in the long run.

Sorcerer is no doubt a great film, I just think its pacing, suspense and character development could have been handled much better compared to its predecessor. In that regard, if you’ve seen neither, I recommend seeing Wages of Fear first, but that’s just me.