Now we have him as the master of staging that he is, a genius of classicism who makes classic films in the most modern and exciting way possible. But we must not forget that the origins of Steven Spielberg were not so lavish in terms of resources. Which doesn’t mean it’s not effective and portentous to the core. I wish all series B were like ‘Jaws’ -in spirit it certainly is- or ‘The devil on wheels’.
However, it is not a plan to underestimate those who get into making series B. The grace of those films that were then considered exploitations, no matter how big they were, is that Spielberg never feels above them and knows the potential of these tapes to tighten springs that keep the viewer always entertained. Derrick Borte understands something like this in the surprising ‘Wild’, already available on Amazon Prime Video.
A day of fury
The premise couldn’t be simpler. An overwhelmed and divorced mother (Caren Pistorius) is having a really dog day, overwhelmed at work and trying to take care of her son. That’s why he doesn’t think too much about honking his horn insistently and impatiently at the car in front of him that is blocking his way. Big mistake.
At the wheel of that car we find a Russell Crowe who seems to have injected into his veins a mixture of Michael Douglas’s character in ‘A Day of Fury’ and Michael Myers from ‘Halloween’. The horn has been the straw that broke the camel’s back and he is willing to let the impertinent person in the other car know by force. And he will not hesitate to take anyone ahead, in a whole lesson in pure psychopathy.
The film in that aspect is not particularly subtle. It’s not that he wants it or needs it. Borte and Crowe take the opportunity to create a monster taken from one of the mythical slashers of the seventies and eighties and, at the same time, a reflection of the most harassing toxic masculinity and that, ironically, he has films like ‘Gladiator’ as models of vitality and manhood, drawing all the wrong lessons from them.
‘Wild’: slaughter unleashed
It can be seen perfectly as a ‘The Devil on Wheels’ where Crowe is that truck that personifies absolute and unstoppable evil. And is highly entertaining even with its limitations, since Borte performs sequences that are remarkable, both in physical destruction and in harrowing car chases. He obviously does not have the expertise of a Spielberg to make them totally dazzling, but it is undeniable that they are executed with taste as well as good bad drool.
Of course, it’s elevated thanks to Crowe’s incredible physical work from start to finish. He not only renounces trying to give justifications or escape routes to his character so that he can be empathized, but tries to personify all the horror it can give and does it magnificently through physical presence and brutality. ‘Wild’ is, without a doubt, better than you might think and it won’t bore you. It does not give time for it, with 90 minutes that are a safe investment.