MovieChat Forums > Sorcerer (1977) Discussion > Sometimes better but never overall as Wa...

Sometimes better but never overall as Wages of Fear!!

posted 12 years ago by simplyfsl
5 replies | jump to latest

I am big fan of the original and watched this recently with a very open mind, Friedkin really did some interesting things with the Remake, some of them:

The Action scenes were well shot and very edge-of-the seat..
The Back-stories idea was good..

But still despite these facts, the character development in WOF makes me care more for the characters, like the cool character that loses his control, like the character of Mario, I connected more to these people...

and then the ending *spoilers* WOF had a dark ending with a message of how careless success makes us, when Sorcerer ended at Dominguez surviving, I said, Ok, its an re-interpration, I like it, but another unneeded twist makes the movie kneel to WOF...

I need some views on my perception...

Why so Serious ?

[–] Thurston789 11 years ago

Friedkin does more in the first ten minutes than WOF does in its first hour in my opinion.
Though maybe I'm impatient to get things going.

[–] therealman 11 years ago

It could be that you saw WOF before seeing Sorcerer. I saw Sorcerer before seeing Wages of Fear. The original is good but it's almost a comedy. Mario, looks like he just got back from saving the princess from Donkey Kong.

Freidkin's version is intense. He never let's up. You are always on the edge of your seat. Sort of like Raiders of the Lost Ark, only a lot darker. Other movies have tried this but fail, like Temple of Doom.

[–] Suskis 11 years ago

I think that even if Sorcerer is a good movie, it pales compared to the original Wages of Fear. The beginning in Sorcerer does more harm to characters than anything, simply because, as you said, we don't care at all for any of them at the end of the movie. The original is a real masterpiece and this remake is just a good movie.

'What has been affirmed without proof can also be denied without proof.' (Euclid)

[–] pullgees 11 years ago

Characters are better developed in WOF for sure, you do care about them although too much time is spent on getting to know them before the action.
I like the big truck in WOF it looked more the business and I missed the corrugated road hazard as in WOF - corrugated road is a dirt road that is formed by vehicles compacting the dirt into ridges. There was the wooden overhang in Sorcerer but oddly we only saw one truck negotiate it and in close up frame so we didn't really get to see it properly, perhaps this is a missing scene. I thought the terrorist hold up in Sorcerer was a nice touch which gave the story a modern feel. But because that changed the fate of the co-driver therefore we don't get the grim oil lake scene as in WOF and miserable death of an oil soaked wound and gangrene that followed for that character.
For me WOF has the edge.

[–] Demarates 11 years ago

I find Sorcerer vastly superior.

When I'm gone I would like something to be named after me. A psychiatric disorder, for example.