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'The Wicker Man'... Aims and MissesThe horror version of 'Snakes on a Plane' |
By Elena Gorgan, Entertainment News Editor
4th of September 2006, 08:45 GMT
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It was supposed to be thrilling, scary, unpredictable and mysterious but, instead, the latest Neil LaBute film just made critics categorize it as the horror version of Samuel L. Jackson's 'Snakes on a Plane'. In terms of quality, of course...
Because, despite starring respectable actors such as the Oscar-nominated Nicholas Cage (who is also one of the producers of the project), Ellen Burstyn and Kate Beahan, the movie is nothing but an amalgam of poorly acted scenes and hallucinatory filming, interspersed with a sense of stupidity and lack of verisimilitude, that makes the viewer wonder whether he should laugh (is it a comedy?) or feel sorry for having wasted his/her money.
Cage is a good actor and his previous works stand as credit for his seriousness and that's why we may be tempted to think that it wasn't him the one who spoiled 'The Wicker Man', but the bad script that was written from the original 1973 screenplay.
Edward Woodward, who played the main character in the original movies, was the director's first choice, before casting Cage for the part, but he turned the offer down because he just couldn't believe how bad the script was. That should have been a sign for Nicholas to back down from the project from the first time he heard of it.
But the actor is too fond of the original and, consequently, he cast aside all sense of reason when he was offered the chance to play Edward Malus. He is a sheriff who is summoned by an ex-girlfriend to the island of Summersisle, because she claims that her daughter has been missing for a very long time.
Arrived there, Malus comes face to face with a group of neo-pagans, all women, of whom he believes responsible for the little girl's abduction. Yes, we know, the plot sounds good and it is indeed so. It's its re-enacting that sends one completely off-track...
Maybe the film company and the all-too-talented LaBute knew a few things more about 'The Wicker Man' than the rest of those involved in it, considering they refused to release it for private screenings for the press. What do you know, it's the same thing that 'Snakes on a Plane' pulled a while ago!
All in all, watch the trailer for the Cage movie, but try not to be mislead by it, as many did before that. If you're really into the horror/thriller stuff, you could rent the 1973 original movie, rather than waste your money on this poor remake.
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Good (3.6/5) |
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