Runtime: 148 minutes
Directed by: Henri-Georges
Clouzot
Starring: Yves Montand,
Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, Peter Van Eyck, Vera Clouzot
From: Several French and
Italian companies
This will be another
instance of me having a controversial opinion. Give me the
Henri-Georges Clouzot film Diabolique instead of this any day of the
week:
It was not the plan last night to revisit this film but for reasons
I'll get into tomorrow, this was the opportune time. I realize my
relatively low rating will be unpopular, but let me explain. Before last
night, I had an even more negative opinion of this movie; the actual
transport of the nitroglycerin across the terrible roads of a fictitious
South American country that Trump probably would utter some foul
language about... that has its suspenseful moments for sure but when the
main players are all A-holes to various degrees that I could never warm
up to and the story was too miserable and not any fun...
Seeing it again last night, I'll say this is fine-I guess. I do not love this like most do as it will be forever difficult for me to enjoy a film if I can't connect with a plot or its main players. The fact that it does have some tremendous nail-biting sequences help me give this a “not bad” rating. I just wish it would not have literally taken forever to get on the road, and again, someone I actually liked. Of course I realize the setting of a South American town full of squalor, various sundry characters stuck there and it de facto being run by an appalling oil company that expresses the worst of capitalism and colonialism (those satiric barbs were on point) it's not the cheeriest setting yet how about someone I could root for? When the main players are making that delivery, it would have been helpful for me to actually care about their fate, but as they are all lowly buffoons... not even the guy that I heard described by another reviewer here as “bootleg Rutger Hauer" could make me like watching this again.
I presume this won't be the last-ever viewing of The Wages of Fear for me; after all, the only cut I've ever watched is the 148 minute international one. The original 153 minute version was restored and released on Blu-ray... but not in the United States yet. Not that I expect this to suddenly change my opinion and that cut will suddenly cause me to say that this a masterpiece like most other film fans proclaim. In the near future I will talk about the remakes (yes, more than one) and give my opinion on those.
Seeing it again last night, I'll say this is fine-I guess. I do not love this like most do as it will be forever difficult for me to enjoy a film if I can't connect with a plot or its main players. The fact that it does have some tremendous nail-biting sequences help me give this a “not bad” rating. I just wish it would not have literally taken forever to get on the road, and again, someone I actually liked. Of course I realize the setting of a South American town full of squalor, various sundry characters stuck there and it de facto being run by an appalling oil company that expresses the worst of capitalism and colonialism (those satiric barbs were on point) it's not the cheeriest setting yet how about someone I could root for? When the main players are making that delivery, it would have been helpful for me to actually care about their fate, but as they are all lowly buffoons... not even the guy that I heard described by another reviewer here as “bootleg Rutger Hauer" could make me like watching this again.
I presume this won't be the last-ever viewing of The Wages of Fear for me; after all, the only cut I've ever watched is the 148 minute international one. The original 153 minute version was restored and released on Blu-ray... but not in the United States yet. Not that I expect this to suddenly change my opinion and that cut will suddenly cause me to say that this a masterpiece like most other film fans proclaim. In the near future I will talk about the remakes (yes, more than one) and give my opinion on those.
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