The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) is a remake of the classic 1953 French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Being based on the original novel of the same name by Georges Arnaud, the 2024 film is directed by Julien Leclercq. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 46 minutes.
The rebooted story follows the aftermath of an oil well explosion. In order to prevent a catastrophic disaster, a skilled but criminally corrupted team is deployed to transport highly volatile nitroglycerine across a treacherous desert terrain. The team members must navigate through dangerous obstacles and constantly monitor the stability of the explosive material while facing the threat of harsh weather conditions and other unforeseen challenges. Their mission is a race against time, as every moment counts in their efforts to avert a catastrophe and save lives.
The cast of the film includes Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Sofiane Zermani, Ana Girardot, Bakary Diombera, Astrid Whettnall, Alka Matewa, Sarah Afchain and others.
-This Article Contains Spoilers-
The Wages of Fear Review
The first thought while watching a few minutes of the film was confusion. It opens with a gunfight sequence in the desert, where some lady is trying to outrun the bandits and searching for something. Her presumable partner in another car discourages her, to getting back to safety and stop looking for some vaccine apparently. Only deduction we can make is that she could be a government official from the WWH badge on her protective shield. Instead of introducing us to the characters, the gunfight straightaway leads to the sex sequence between the lady, Clara and the other man Fred.
From their conversation after the intimate encounter, we get the hint that they aren’t here in the middle of the desert, out of choice. But are running away from something. Nothing else is revealed about Clara further on in the film, but Fred holds a great amount of guilt and pain in his heart. Through a flashback, we get to see that Fred used to work as some kind of a hitman/transporter and was about to go to France due to political unrest. On his last job, he was supposed to transport a rich man out of the country but his client gets killed in the police encounter.
Before dying, the man shoves all his money into a safe. This gives Fred an idea to steal the money and start a new life in France, comfortably. He convinces his brother, Alex, to help him because he is some kind of a weapons/tech expert. Unfortunately, Alex gets arrested while trying to open the safe, while Fred is on the lookout outside. Ridden with the guilt of getting his brother in trouble, he has now found a new base and job in the desert, working as a driver and guard.
But near the refugee camp, an oil well catches fire, directly threatening the lives of the population. Dispatching experts to the site, the company operating the well realizes that it has only one solution to avert the catastrophe: detonate the oil well with nitroglycerin within 24 hours. And who do they appoint for the job? – Fred and to lure him to take this deadly mission, they get Alex on board as the second driver. Also promising a free life, if the mission is completed successfully. Keeping the grudges aside, the two brothers face numerous treacherous traps in the desert, trying to safely transport the chemical that can blast at the smallest disruption.
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Instead of having four main leads, the 2024 version of The Wages of Fear focuses mostly on the two brothers and how their dynamics change. Clara, an NGO worker acting like a thrill-seeking mysterious girl is tagged along with them and Gauthier, a frenemy who is just focused on getting the task done in any way. But the problem is that none of the characters are interesting enough to watch. The stupidest thing is how Fred let his brother get arrested while helping HIM. Even though he spots the military personnel making their way to the house beforehand, he doesn’t try to get his brother out but dumbly observes them from a safe place.
The part where they have to drive the two trucks full of nitroglycerine is somewhat thrilling but becomes quite ridiculous quickly. The characters always warn about the liquid’s volatility and how even a drop is deadly. Yet they voluntarily pick up fights and get openly shot at, despite the known fact that one accidental shot can blow all of them. The French Vin Diesel, Fred aka Franck Gastambide and his onscreen brother portray themselves as Invincible and oversmart, in all such situations. While Ana Girardot throws in overly dramatic and out-of-place outbursts at the most inconvenient times or maybe to show her *girl boss* side.
The Wages of Fear is a compilation of some action, dramatic and ridiculous sequences with no substantial story to hold them together. If you enjoyed the 1953 classic, then maybe watch it again rather than wasting your time on this pointless film. It would have been better that they didn’t associate themselves as a remake, since most of the story is changed apart from the transporting of the liquid in the desert part.
Rating: 1/5
The Wages of Fear is available to watch on Netflix.
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