The Wicker Man
The Wicker Man
PG-13 | 01 September 2006 (USA)
The Wicker Man Trailers

A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.

Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

... View More
Bereamic

Awesome Movie

... View More
SanEat

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

... View More
Neive Bellamy

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

... View More
TheNabOwnzz

The Wicker Man (2006) is another example of the absurd unimaginative creativeness in the brains of producers and directors in modern day Hollywood, as it is a nearly word for word remake of a film that was admittedly also not very good, but still not nearly as bad as this one turned out to be.This remake has several scenes that are literally an exact copy from the original The Wicker Man (1973), with the only notable differences being that the Island is now a feminist utopia in which men are made mute and serve merely as brainless servants of the 'mighty female supremacy' that seems to rule in this idiotic world. It is ofcourse an absurd ideology and an absurd situation to which you will never be able to relate. The naked women from the original have also been removed, so the only real differences between the original and the remake seem to be based on ridiculous politically correct subjects so the modern snowflake community can't get offended by it's 'sexism', as they would call it these days. A word for word remake in which only the political correctness has been added to is, ofcourse, utterly pointless, and it is no different in this case. The original was already severely lacking in its script or its depth, but the remake manages to be even worse. Nicolas Cage is a pretty mediocre actor, but there is not really any doubt that this is by far his worst performance ever seen on film. Even by Cage standards his overacting is absolutely ridiculous. He is constantly seen yelling like a madman in loads of scenes, ( Not the beeeeess!, How'd it get burned?!?!?!? ) his anger towards the latter stages seem to be initiated because the script tells him to, and not really because Cage embodies his character well in any way. Even early on, Cage Always seems to interrupt people with the most awkward and cringy of dialogue choices ( His thought of a shark being in a couple of the villagers bag ) or in the case of his interruption in the school class, weird awkward laughing at little girls who discuss a 'phallic symbol'. Ofcourse in the original this is discussed in detail in a sentence after that, but in the remake this is ofcourse removed due to political correctness.It is a mystery on paper, but its mystery is solely there because characters are constantly beating around the bush when talking to Cage, even his runaway girlfriend Willow Woodward, who is played by Kate Beahan who constantly seems to be confused and unable to understand the lines that she is spouting out, which is ofcourse not very surprising with such a terrible near word for word copy of an already mediocre script. Cage never seems to realize anything, his character has to be the dumbest detective that has ever been created for film. He is constantly easily tricked by all the women on the Island, he follows a little girl instead of leading her himself, he lets someone empty his gun without him knowing, he dives into some water entered via a kind of grate which can easily be blocked ( Which ofcourse happens ), and many more ridiculous actions.The cinematography does not have an eye or a feel for the situation of the characters in the film, and also does not try to improve immersion in any way with visual symbolisms or the sort. It also has night scenes in woods for example that are lit up like a thousand light bulbs, where it could have been a great opportunity for some minimal lighting to catch the dark tone of the movie. However, these kind of intellectual additions are non existent in this already unoriginal and bland remake.The final stages of the film consists of Cage beating up a couple of women ( I was very surprised they were allowed to film that on account of the idiotic feminist message this film makes ), including one in a bear suit, which has to be one of the greatest unintentionally funny moments ever seen on film. The women are admittedly annoying in The Wicker Man but since Cage's character is a complete idiot that comes up with the most immature and inhumane responses possible, it isn't possible to relate with him either, but since his acting is also so ridiculously bad it atleast becomes quite funny to witness Cage's most embarrassing performance.In the end the entire world displayed here is one great ridiculous feminist fantasy, a world that is solely based on ideals that should never be put into film in such a disgusting manner, as this kind of world only exists as a propaganda form. Combined with absolutely horrendous acting ( Especially Cage & his runaway girlfriend ) & terrible script this is a ridiculous affront to the world of cinema in general.

... View More
soulexpress

I have Pagan friends who despise this film with a savage intensity. Given its mean-spirited portrayal of them, I can certainly understand why. As if that weren't bad enough, the film has numerous plot points that were either abandoned or simply didn't make sense:In an early scene, Office Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) pulls over a car occupied by a mother and her young daughter. Out of nowhere, an 18-wheeler barrels into the car, setting it ablaze. As Malus attempts to rescue them, the mother and daughter seemingly vanish into thin air. First, why was the truck on the wrong side of the road, much less in the breakdown lane? Second, just who were that mother and daughter? And for that matter, why was their car unregistered?How did Willow's letter get to Malus without a stamp?If outsiders aren't allowed on Summersisle, why does it have an inn?At the inn, Malus mentions that the cassette tapes he brought with him had disappeared from his luggage. The tapes are never mentioned again.What's the deal with the bird trapped in the old school desk?Why don't the men on the island speak? Are they unable to? It's never explained.While Malus is searching an underwater crypt for the missing child, somebody closes and locks the lid to the opening through which he entered it. Why do that and risk his drowning when they need him alive for their ritual?After spending all night underwater (except for his head), Malus immediately bounces back and continues his search for the missing child. Naturally, his clothes are bone-dry not two minutes later.Why was that little girl hiding in the closet?You inject an Epi-Pen into the outer thigh, not the damned neck!Lastly, my DVD copy (which I found in a $2.00 bin) features what it calls a "shocking alternate ending not seen in theaters." All it does is leave out the epilogue. This version ends with the chants of, "The drone must die." So not only was the theatrical release garbage, the DVD was a scam!

... View More
Douglas Skinner

This movie starts out interestingly but becomes very tedious as soon as one recognizes that the woman the protagonist (played by Mr. Cage) has come to a remote island to save isn't very interesting--or worth saving for that matter. Plus, upon arrival, the feminist community he encounters is absurd, even in fantasy terms. There is nothing endearing about it and, frankly, most sensible males would have immediately debarked upon encountering the sour-faced and well, to put it nicely, ample Sister Beech.But our hero decides to pursue the case. (The screen writers were evidently uneasy about tenacity with which Malus stays on the case so, midstream, we learn from Sister Woodward that the child in question is really his daughter conceived what I inferred was a single coupling.) After some reconnaissance of the local flora and a couple of clandestine meetings with "Sister" Woodward our hero finally meets the "queen bee", Sister Summersisle, of the colony and tries to confront her concerning the whereabouts and fate of a young girl with the absurd name of Rowan. (But it was evident that all the women were named after trees, so there you have it!) Sister Summersisle's responses are meretricious and patronizing and the viewer knows she's gonna get him in the end. The incongruity between the flower-child paganism of the female inhabitants with their likeness to bees and trees and the miserable emasculation of the men is disturbing but somehow it doesn't come off right; because it is almost believable! It's just the kind of queendom that formed the fantasies of the feminist coeds I encountered in my college days in the late 60s. As it was then it just makes you (me anyway, as a guy) frustrated and talking to the screen, asking Malus why he doesn't jack up these male bozos for being so wimpy; at least enough to find out whether their servility is based on weak character or some mysterious rewiring of the human male along the lines of a bee drone. (I asked the same questions almost 50 years ago!)Now I admit that police officer Malus is kind of an, to use that word so endearing to modern feminists, a**hole but he is sincere in his response to the call to help. Does this warrant his final incendiary end, with the gleeful complicity of an cute little girl (who scarcely knows what she's doing)? Probably yes because, as the movie makes clear, his macho is the dilithium power source of the cult and so must be harnessed. You see, unlike the feminists and very much like the bees, they've learned how to utilize maleness. Ultimate simplicity, no wrangling, no male unemployment so destructive to an ordered society (and it is!), no physical contest naturally favoring men, just emasculation for lesser beings and an auto da fe for those occasional potent types who are selected in advance to "mate" with the queen (we learn towards the end that Malus' and Woodward's consummation was no accident as she is the daughter of the queen bee). And I'm reasonably confident that this is the movie's ultimate and intended message. So guys, beware!

... View More
Screen_Blitz

Neil LaBute's re-imagining of the 1973 classic horror serves as just another representation of horror remakes falling deeply interior in their original outing, with scares that more often than provoke unintentional laughter than spine chills; and not in an effective way incorporated in comedy-horror hybrids. The film never rises at the surface level of the cinematically inept, and instead relies heavily on a poorly executed plot and a script that falls shallow of nuance but feels sorely miscalculated at the point of leaving the average scratching their head pondering "What was director LaBute thinking?". And a laughably incompetent performance uprooted by Nicolas Cage certainly doesn't do much justice. So this film follows Seattle police officer Edward Malus (played by Nicolas Cage) recovering from an horrendous when he is informed by his ex-wife Willow Woodard (played by Kate Beahan) that her daughter Rowan has gone missing. This lead Edward on the investigation to a mysterious island for the missing girl, but discovers the island inhabited by individuals of a mysterious paganistic cult lead by Sister Summersisle (played by Ellen Burstyn) who apparently represents the goddess. Upon learning the nefarious dangers of the cult, Edward must discover the terrifying their terrifying secret and save the little girl from the sinister cult.After sitting through an hour of this, I honestly could have not tell if this film was supposed to be dark comedy or just a poorly conceived supernatural horror flick. Though it supposedly falls in the latter category, it really makes you wonder if its possible the movie suffers from a identity crisis. Why is this? The poster showing a terrifying, Exorcist-like image of the little girl leads you to believe you're for a spine-chilling thriller, but Neil LaBute's misguided direction proves otherwise. As the film deals with the lead character investigating an island influenced by paganism, and practice human sacrifices for reasons vaguably explained. The idea would be interesting enough if the story actually took the time to vividly explain some of the concepts other than occasional commentary on the Salem Witch Trials, or maybe if the plot made much sense before descending into a misguided mess. While the first film put religious conflict as the central theme of it's plot, this installment replaces the theme with women rebelling against men which frankly fails work here. The idea is is profoundly interesting on paper but when Neil LaBute's translates it on screen, it results in 102-minutes of unintentional comedy and lack of scares. From there on, we are forced to endure a plot that not only grows silly before the first hour, but also an over-the-top performance by Nicolas Cage who's scenes of hollering at Kate Beahan are painfully unconvincing, and scenes of his character being threatened by a crowd of pagans, that don't even amount to the slightest suspense. And it doesn't certainly doesn't help that his character is poorly drawn, engages in cheesy, and takes a hateful audacity of hitting women in multiple scenes. The Wicker Man is sorely incompetent remake of the 1973 horror classic with nothing to offer but a sheer lack of authenticity and scares. This film is laughably bad to the point of only being worth enjoying on a guilty pleasure level. But if you are looking for a good horror film with good scares and plenty of smarts, you are probably best looking further. For a list of the worst movies of 2006, this one definitely fills in a position.

... View More