Blu Tuesday: Big Bad Wolves and Sorcerer

Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on Facebook and Twitter with your friends.

“Big Bad Wolves”

WHAT: When a lawless police detective (Lior Ashkenazi) botches his investigation into a series of brutal child murders that he believes was committed by religious studies teacher Dror (Rotem Keinan), he teams up with the vengeful father (Tzahi Grad) of the latest victim to kidnap and torture the suspected killer into revealing the location of the girl’s severed head.

WHY: “Big Bad Wolves” is one of those movies where all the hype may have hurt the film more than it helps it, because while writer/directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado have produced a well-made Israeli thriller, it’s not nearly as amazing as many people (including Quentin Tarantino, who named it his best film of 2013) would lead you to believe. Between the many plot holes that defy logic and twists so predictable that it makes the police characters seem incompetent by comparison, “Big Bad Wolves” is unable to stick the landing, resulting in a movie that’s good, but not as great as it could have been. What makes the whole thing work at all are the performances from the three leads. Even when you’re 99% certain that you know the truth, a character will say or do something that forces you to rethink your position. And that’s where the film’s true genius is revealed, because it never allows you to feel comfortable about what these brutish men are doing to their captive, even if he may be guilty. It’s a smarter, more socially conscious form of torture porn – one that places morality over shock and awe.

EXTRAS: There’s a pretty decent making-of featurette and a fluff piece produced for AXS TV, but that’s the extent of the bonus material.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT

“Sorcerer”

WHAT: A group of outcasts from different backgrounds find themselves working for a drilling company in South America. When an oil well explodes several hundred miles away, four of the men (including Roy Scheider) are given a lucrative opportunity to transport six crates of unstable dynamite across the jungle so that the nitroglycerin can be used to extinguish the flames.

WHY: William Friedkin’s 1977 thriller has experienced a bit of a revival lately, but it’s hard to understand why. The movie was critically panned when it was first released, and rightfully so, because it’s an often boring and uneven mess, beginning with its horribly misleading title. Named after one of the trucks that the characters drive in the film, it tells you absolutely nothing about the story, nor does anything of much interest happen in the first hour. It takes 30 minutes just to introduce the four main characters, and another 30 minutes to send them on their journey. Once they embark on the suicide mission, however, the movie finally shifts out of first gear and delivers a handful of truly suspenseful moments as the quartet is forced to battle the elements, dangerous rebels and shoddy terrain. Many people have singled out the bridge crossing as the standout sequence in the film, but there’s a pair of set pieces that come just before and after that are equally as good, even if they’re dragged out a little longer than necessary. With better pacing and more likable characters, “Sorcerer” could have been an American classic, but instead, it’s a disappointing exercise in wasted potential.

EXTRAS: Nothing, zilch, nada.

FINAL VERDICT: RENT