Remakes get a bad rap. From Scarface to The Blob, more than a few classics and beloved genre flicks triumph as reimaginings of other classics. Others stand as potent time capsules of a cinematic era, like so many mid-aughts horror remakes. Even some reviled efforts exist as all right entertainment bestowed with the impossible baggage of an iconic title. But then there are those films that make one question the whole point of such an endeavor, and while 2024’s The Wages of Fear isn’t going to melt eyes, it might have one wanting their 100 minutes back.
Of course, most remakes wouldn’t have to exist in the shadow of a remake that’s a masterpiece in its own right. William Friedkin’s nail-biting Sorcerer already proved that Clouzot’s 1953 original could be evolved and reshaped into something fresh, so there was potential to the idea of director Julien Leclercq tackling the material. His previous works like heist thriller Braqueurs and Netflix series Ganglands excelled at showcasing capable pros executing capers and overcoming obstacles with shrewd efficiency, while The Bouncer and Earth and Blood wrung tense crime drama from simple genre fare. Add French action star Alban Lenoir as co-lead, and that’s a promising blend of material and director style.
Like those previous two versions, there’s an oil derrick spewing flames and the only way to stop it is fighting fire with a massive detonation. The only problem is that the hundreds of pounds of volatile nitroglycerin are hundreds of miles away, thus ensuing a truck odyssey across hostile terrain where one mistake or sudden shift can jolt the nitro into exploding. Behind the wheels are brothers Fred (Franck Gastambide) and prison-brawler/explosive-export Alex (Lenoir), along with totally-not-suspicious-at-all Gauthier (Sofiane Zermani) and the noble Clara (Ana Girardot), all on a desert jaunt fraught with snipers, landmines and worse.
And yet none of that adds up to much at all. Purely as a new rendition of its namesake, The Wages of Fear might as well be an exercise in anti-tension. Fred’s mercenary past only serves to muddle the pacing of the first half with sluggish awkwardly-placed flashbacks, and his brother’s looming prison sentence only highlights the utter lack of chemistry or air of care in their dynamic. Leclercq doesn’t even try to give his film a sequence of edge-of-your-seat suspense like Sorcerer’s iconic bridge crossing. Instead this impossible journey seems downright easy as the team crosses mostly flat desert landscapes interspersed by the occasional hazard and attacks by nondescript rebels. If a remake is expected to capture the spirit of the original, then The Wages of Fear utterly fails in that regard.
Worse still is that Wages doesn’t even compensate for being a poor remake by at least being a solid action movie, which is arguably the most shocking outcome given its director and lead. Lenoir seems incredibly miscast, lacking the weary seasoned pro energy that story desperately needs, and Gastambide barely registers beyond being the most forgettable presence onscreen. Meanwhile the taut thrills of Leclercq’s other films are reduced to generic gunfights and chases so laden with CG that any sense of tactile impact is erased. Even when half the runtime consists of vehicles racing forwards, momentum and propulsiveness are nowhere to be seen in this film.
As a Julien Leclercq actioner and as a new version of a classic, these 100 minutes only offer leaden plot and disappointing thrills. At every turn, The Wages of Fear is determined to remain the most disposable and most bland film it could possibly be.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
The post The Wages of Fear appeared first on Spectrum Culture.