Reviews

I also massively appreciated the many ways in which Friedkin managed to differentiate this film from The Wages of Fear, because as similar as they are, he still follows different beats and different paths in that last half that still kept me on my toes.

The movie was a financial disasters and is one of those early movies that forced studios to reduce the control of directors over their films unless they have a long proven track record of commercial and critical success doing their own way.

The entire movie was like that and for me that was even better than the story.

The film looked really beautiful with most scenes in some exotic location - interiors sometimes looking more exotic, and Tangerine Dream's minimalist score was kind of neat (if underwhelming), but I just couldn't feel the weight that was so clearly trying to break through like the tires of those lab...

Despite some occasional stylish cinematographic bits (notably the amazing rainy bridge scene), most of the movie isnt too gaudy.

The bridge scene, in particular - for which the film is mostly known, is extremely tense, forming the best scene in the film by some distance for me.

Thus we are left with a very stylish movie that has some great action and suspense sequences, but lacks the soul of the original. For those who like action or adventure movies, though, I'd still recommend it.