In the dramatic events of this film, four men of expatriates work in oil-drilling operation in the town of south America, but after the fire breaks out the control, they have the opportunity to transform their life and earn a lot of money by driving two ancient trucks, which full of dynamite, through miles of jungle.
The new movie is handsomely shot and crisply edited. Why, then, does one rather distantly respect it instead of just plain liking it? It is an odd, disappointing feeling to take away from a summertime movie.
It's easy to be repelled by the film's relentless bleakness, but it's even easier to be entranced by its immense scale, impeccable craft and astonishing suspense.
Is it any wonder the film slipped into obscurity almost immediately after release? With the number of issues that pile up by the end of these two hours, an incredibly misleading title ends up being the least of its worries.
Friedkin's cyclical, almost Kafkaesque insistence that politics revolves around now globalized, corporate power delegating hired guns to do under-the-table bidding across national boundaries announces itself through the soundscape.
Over the years, a certain mystique has surrounded Friedkin's dark tale, as is so often the case with lost films. Unlike many of them, though, Sorcerer delivers.
Friedkin hints at political themes, but the film suffers most from condescendingly over-emphatic direction, and a generally tedious, relentless grimy realism in the opening half hour.
Breathtaking in its cinematography, production design and sound work, Sorcerer is a worthy contender for the film with the most suspenseful set-pieces in Hollywood history - if such an arbitrary title existed.
By the time Sorcerer gets around to its rain-soaked, rickety-bridge set piece, you'll either be obsessed or fully checked out. Give yourself a chance to pick sides.
