Let’s be absolutely clear: the original 1953 film, ‘The Wages of Fear’, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, is a cinematic masterpiece. A tense, meticulously crafted thriller, it tells the story of desperate men braving treacherous roads to transport trucks loaded with explosives.
Sadly, over 70 years later, an attempt has been made to ‘reimagine’ this classic. What we’ve gotten instead is a disaster – a hollow, action-movie shell bearing a superficial resemblance to its source material.
Netflix’s ‘The Wages of Fear’ (2024): More Action, Less Soul
Directed by Julien Leclercq, this new take on ‘The Wages of Fear’ tries to amp up the excitement but utterly fails to capture the heart and tension of the original. The focus shifts to brothers Fred (Franck Gastambide) and Alex (Alban Lenoir), whose backstories are clumsily delivered via flashbacks. Fred, haunted by his role in a botched heist that landed Alex in prison, finds an opportunity for redemption when an oil well explosion threatens a desert refugee camp.
The company behind the well enlists the brothers to transport nitroglycerin and blow it up. It’s a suicide mission: 20 hours to drive two explosive-laden trucks through a war-torn landscape. They’re joined by Clara (Ana Girardot), Fred’s lover, and a cast of forgettable side characters. Cue sporadic shootouts, a minefield, and various manufactured obstacles as the plot limps toward an explosive, but ultimately meaningless, conclusion.
Where the Original Thrills, the Remake Fizzles
This remake was unlikely to ever match the brilliance of its predecessor. However, it plummets far, far lower than anticipated. The action sequences, a mishmash of gunfights and forced fistfights, are devoid of excitement. You can almost see the actors holding back, and the frantic editing obscures rather than enhances the supposed danger. Even when bullets are supposedly whizzing past the volatile cargo, there’s no sense of suspense – just a sense of going through the motions.
The cast fails to inject any life into the flimsy cardboard-cutout characters. Gastambide’s stoic performance rarely wavers, even when faced with events that should trigger some emotional response. A late-stage betrayal, utterly predictable, feels even more lifeless thanks to this lack of dynamism.
When ‘Borrowing’ Turns Into a Bad Cover Song
The most egregious issue is the remake’s attempts to echo pivotal moments from the original. Scenes like navigating a giant boulder or a tense drive through an oil slick, masterfully built in the ’53 film, are rushed and devoid of any emotional weight here. Instead of homage, they feel like a bad cover song – familiar, but stripped of its soul. By trying to stay close to the original’s outline, this remake highlights just how shallow it truly is. The contrast between Clouzot’s brilliance and the banality of this version becomes painfully apparent.
Final Verdict: Watch the Original, Skip the Pretender
While some remakes can bring fresh perspectives, this ‘Wages of Fear’ is a cautionary tale. It’s a forgettable, manufactured action flick that will likely disappear into the depths of Netflix’s content abyss.
