Only after watching The Wicker Man did I go online in search of other people's opinions of this film. I was very surprised by what I discovered. Apparently, everyone hates it. What I hadn't realised was that this was a remake (so many these days; we've no original thought left) of a 1973 Brit classic, which everyone but me apparently saw and was gauging this work against. I was a Wicker Man virgin. In that light, I give the following very brief review.
This film had that sort of feel, somewhere between "made for TV" and "Blockbuster", which didn't necessarily demand any big name stars to render it worthy. The two hour experience had the feel of The Village, Blairwitch, Lord of The Flies, X-Files, melded into one.
Nicholas Cage did a good, but not good enough job as the lead male actor. He overdid it a bit at times and didn't do enough at other times. I felt myself constantly shifting between being annoyed by some unlikely parts, then immediately being absorbed by the parts that followed, then repeating the cycle over again throughout the length of the film. Under normal circumstances, I'd be highly annoyed by this rollercoaster, but in this case, the parts that kept me absorbed easily outweighed those that annoyed me.
In my opinion, Ellen Burstyn (as Sister Summersisle) gave the best performance in the movie, even though her presence wasn't as extensive as Cage's.
The setting - a (seemingly) remote island - was perfect and served well in adding to the feeling of isolation and suspense.
I came away from this having learnt two things:
1. I absolutely must see the 1973 original.
2. Women are EVIL! (I already knew that, of course. This just reinforced it.)
I guess I'll be the first to cast a vote on this. I give it 3.5 stars (3 on the above poll).
P.S. I still am at a loss as to why I've never heard of the original before yesterday.
