★★★★★ 5
Ruthless, nail-biting action thriller from "Exorcist" director William Friedkin.
BOTTOM LINE: If you enjoy tension & suspense then you'll be hard-pressed to find a better experience than SORCERER. I loved it and feel it has a high replay value that offsets the discouraging lack of bonus features. 5 STARS
THE STORY: Four shady criminals from various countries are on the run from trouble. Each eventually ends up in the desolate backwards village of Vera Cruz, deep in the South American jungle. Arriving there illegally, none of the strangers possess proper documentation with which to leave once the heat is off. They are trapped, and the only work in the village is at a nearby oil drilling site. When saboteurs blow the rig up the oil company must quickly put it out & recap the well, to maintain its profitability. The explosives needed to blow out the raging fire are stored at the company headquarters - some 200 miles away. Complicating matters further, the TNT has become dangerously unstable due to improper storage conditions, so it cannot be flown to the site but must instead be delivered overland by truck. Knowing the danger, the company agrees to pay $10,000 each for drivers willing to tackle the high risk job. Desperate to earn the much-needed money with which to buy their way to freedom, all four criminals volunteer. Though in essence a suicide mission, each man has no choice if he hopes to leave the village and get on with his life. Who will make it?
THOUGHTS: Released a week after the first STAR WARS, and sadly lost in the shuffle, SORCERER is a terrific film. Maybe director William Friedkin's very best. Yes, it is a thinly-veiled re-working of the classic French thriller THE WAGES OF FEAR but don't let that deter you. In many ways Friedkin's adaption is superior. JAWS alumni Roy Scheider is terrific here as a seedy driver for a mob hit gone terribly wrong and the other actors are equally adept in their roles. SORCERER is beautifully photographed and tightly edited for maximum tension. Completely done practically and on actual locations, (being shot back before the advent of CGI and wirework), the action set pieces are among THE MOST intense & nerve-wracking I have EVER seen on film. Period. The rope bridge scene? Two words: Holy crap. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the entire sequence, my heart thumping and my hands clutching the arms of my chair in a death grip. If this scene doesn't make you break out in a cold sweat and get your pulse pounding then you might want to check with your doctor because you're probably dead. This sequence alone makes the purchase of SORCERER completely justified. I feel the first half of the film could have been tightened up some, as it spends the first 45 minutes or so setting everything up, but taking it for what it is it's worth the wait because the last half will have you gasping in disbelief, jumping in your seat and chewing your nails right down to the first knuckle. Simply great stuff. I only regret that I hadn't discovered SORCERER before now, but what a fantastic find.
THE BLU-RAY: In a word... magnificent. The remaster for SORCERER is an audio & visual triumph. This is THE version to own. While sadly lacking in extras, the hi-def film transfer looks so impressive that I am more than willing to overlook the bonus shortcomings. The Blu comes packaged in a sort of mini book binding that sports a brief excerpt from William Friedkin's autobiography, detailing his work on the film and his feelings about its new lease on life with this Blu-ray. I've never been much of a fan of the director himself because he's always come across like a snobby, pompous, egotistical ass. Surprisingly, he acknowledges this fault and describes how it lead to his eventual downfall in Hollywood. But I cannot deny that he's made a few really good films during his career.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016
