REVIEW: ‘The Wages of Fear’ Is Run Of The Mill Action

A fire starts at a small oil well near a refugee village. If they don’t put out the fire it will wipe out the town. At the center of the effort to stop this catastrophe, Fred (Franck Gastambide) and his brother Alex (Alban Lenoir). Whether they want to or not. Their only chance is transporting two heavy trucks worth of nitroglycerine to extinguish the fire. But they have to cross 500 miles of war-torn desert in 24 hours to get there in The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur), directed by Julien Leclercq, and written by Hamid Hlioua and Leclercq.

Before this story gets to the meat of its plot, it takes a few minutes to set up its starring protagonists, Fred and Alex. We learn that Alex was recently sent to jail, thanks to a serious miscalculation on the part of Fred. This lapse in judgment sees Alex thrown in jail for killing police officers he did not kill.

The Wages of Fear takes the time to set up a personal stake for the story and allows hope that the film will deliver more than some tension and explosions. However, while the movie sets up the brothers for an emotional struggle as they fight to save a village of innocent people, it never comes together. While Gastambide and Lenoir do a good job of making the viewer feel the discomfort between the two characters, there’s no payoff. There are small moments that help soften the tension, but they never truly address the situation. While this approach has a measure of authenticity given the characters at play, it’s unsatisfying.

This inability to follow through extends to the action as much as the drama. The moments of danger are executed well, but not memorably so. The various situations play out clearly but lack any. real punch. Due to the basic camera work, the action feels distant. This keeps the viewer from engaging with these moments. Given the small scale of The Wages of Fear‘s firefights, it needs to pull the viewer closer to establish the danger. But it never feels willing to take that last step.

While it’s unwilling to pull the viewer into the action to build tension, it’s more than willing to remind them about the dangerous cargo the characters are moving. The film is obsessed with reminding viewers of their existence, even when there is no immediate danger. It gives nothing to the narrative to randomly cut away to them when the convoy is casually driving down the highway. It just leaves the viewer feeling annoyed. Either the film believes viewers will forget or it’s a tool to meet a 90 minute runtime. So they just keep showing those bottles.

The acting in The Wages of Fear does what it can to shore up the proceedings. While the delivery of each character is solid, the script never allows any of them to shine. Every character falls somewhere on the “strong silent type” spectrum, leading to limited discourse throughout the film. Even when an emotional moment does occur, the film holds the viewer at arm’s length, keeping the moment from truly envoloping them.

It was especially disappointing when the film managed to make the death of the obligatory company man unengaging. The character walks in the tried and true mold of the leader who cares only about the bottom line. I expected his final moments to be more cathartic as we see him get what’s coming to him. Rather than enjoying the fall of this obnoxious character, I watched from a distance as he met his abrupt fate.

The bulk of the plot moments in this film are fairly predictable. The lack of surprise adds to the viewer’s distance from the narrative. With each plot beat visible, the film misses another opportunity to pull viewers in. The entirety of the story feels like something you’ve seen before.

The Wages of Fear delivers an action story best described as fine. The predictable plot beats keep the viewer from ever truly being pulled in. Coupled with action and emotion that always manages to fall short, you have a film that you may not regret seeing. Some of that is because you’re unlikely to ever think of it again after the credits roll.

The Wages of Fear is streaming now on Netflix.