The Wicker Man
When people talk about the original Wicker Man being a cult classic, well, I’m part of the cult. It’s just so bizarre. You have this main character that you don’t particularly like, but you root for, meanwhile Christopher Lee is at his evil best, convincing you that this island full of pagans isn’t that bad. Not to mention that it has all of these really strange songs. This Wicker Man ain’t that Wicker Man. What we have here is either a terrible horror movie or a brilliant train wreck. I’m not entirely sure which one it is.
Nicolas Cage plays Edward Malus (yes, Malus), a motorcycle cop who is trying to track down a girl that disappeared while he was rescuing her. After receiving a mysterious letter from his ex-fiancé, Willow (Kate Beahan), he tracks her down to an island inhabited by the cult of Andrea Dworkin and their mute male slaves. I wish I could tell you more about what these “Sisters” believe but other than the fact that they raise bees, that’s about all the information you have on these people. Well, that and there seems to be an unusual amount of twins hanging around. Anyway, Ed then spends the rest of his time running around the island trying to get information out of Willow and everyone else.
When I first heard the Neil Labute was going to direct this movie I was dumfounded. I couldn’t figure out how any film he’d made up until now had prepared him to direct a horror film, much less one of my favorites. My biggest fear was that after making In the Company of Men and The Shape of Things that he’d turn Wicker Man into another commentary on men and women. I’m not exactly sure what that commentary is supposed to be here, but it can’t be good. However, what it does is really dumb down the whole premise.
People either love or hate Nic Cage. I love him. See, he has the ability to be really good when he wants to be, but when he’s in a film that isn’t that great or needs a little help he switches into this bizarre sort of self mocking mode. It’s hilarious. Whether it’s just delivering ridiculous lines of dialogue or running through the forest in bear feet (yes, I said bear feet), this entire film is basically a showcase to allow Cage to just go out on the deep end.
Labute is a competent director with a pretty good sense of humor, so I find it really hard to believe he could accidentally make such obvious mistakes. The delivery on some of these lines is blatantly comical. There is no way in hell you direct Nicolas Cage to ninja kick Leelee Sobieski across a room and into a wall and not realize that it’s going to come off as so over the top it’s funny. The problem is, I’m not 100% sure that’s the case.
I went to see it with a friend and at first we were snickering at it, but about half way through we were no longer sure if we weren’t laughing with it. So my advice is this: go see it, but relax. If you’re looking to be scared you’re looking in the wrong place. Personally I can’t wait for it to come out o DVD so I can sit back with some friends and some beers and roll on the floor laughing. This movie is what Snakes on a Plane should have been, so bad it’s good.
The Grade
- Story: B-
- Acting: B+
- Visuals: B-
- Originality: C
- Enjoyability: A
- Overall: B+
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