The Wicker Man is a Waste of Money: Witches and Witchcraft Have Never Seemed More Contrived
Nicolas Cage plays policeman, Edward Malus. He is subject to visions of an accident that may or may not have actually happened. He is lured to an island to investigate the disappearance of a little girl, the daughter of former fiance – now a Sister Willow (Beahan), and discovers a shocking truth. In the process, Edward unearths some strange things leading to the woman who created the island and leader of its inhabitants, Sister Somersisle (Burstyn).
Somersisle – the island looks like it was made in the foundation that women are more superior than men since most of the residents are female, worshipping the “Goddess of Life”. While the concept that these women are peaceful in nature is obviously throughout the course of the film, it quickly becomes clear that they’ve had a secret agenda from the beginning. Such secrecy and deception leaves Edward panic-stricken and almost trigger happy by the end.
With the trailer’s freaky scenes and imagery, The Wicker Man looked like the scary movie to beat all scary movies this year. Whether or not they tried to make a scary movie is beside the point. They didn’t do a very good job of it. There aren’t any frightening images. The story falls limp, the concept goes off the reservation and the overall effect is lost along the way.
Nic Cage’s Edward appears to be suffering from psychotic episodes instead of having disturbing memory flashbacks. While Cage does a good job, his character and the entire film for that matter isn’t written all that well. It’s as if the writer/ director Neil LaBute (Possession) wrote down a bunch of different ideas for a film, threw them in a blender and pieced everything together later, making The Wicker Man feel more like a headache than anything else.
Holes in the story never seem to be resolved. We learn of several things during the course of the film but they never make anything of it. A word of advice to Mr. LaBute, your story has to have closure of some kind. You don’t lead an audience down a dark and painfully drawn out path without giving them some sort of gratification.
For all of the people looking for a scary movie and think Wicker Man is the answer, don’t believe anything you’ve seen in those trailers. It’s a mondo disappointment in both fear and entertainment value. If you want to be scared by witches and witchcraft, rent the family film simply titled, Witches. If you want a movie to help you sleep, The Wicker Man is definitely the right prescription.
