If you haven’t watched this movie yet, stop reading as I reveal some of my reactions that technically aren’t spoilers but may give away clues to the story.
This was a remake of a 70’s classic movie of the same name which I had been planning to watch on DVD. I was delighted when I heard this was showing now and jumped at the opportunity to watch this on the big screen. Usually I’ll watch the original first, to preserve the experience, and the remake later. But in this case I made an exception because I had the feeling it would be weird and scary.
It delivers. The Wicker Man is quietly creepy. It actually reminded me of those old school DC or Charlton scary comics that I read as a kid. I like the way they made the music a bit cheesy, it sets the mood well. I genuinely felt I was in the island. Heck, I felt like I was Nicholas Cage’s character. I know you hear me saying this a lot, but I can relate to the lead character in the movie. I use the term ‘relate’ in a bad way, as you really wouldn’t want to be his character here.
The plot is extremely simple, easy to follow. Many people will hate the story. They will say this is a stupid movie and I can actually understand where they are coming from. But I suspect this is because the movie does some different things that ordinary people don’t like happening in their feature length films. Watch this yourself and make your own decision.
The ending is a little heavy. Not the deep kind of heavy. As I said it’s very simple, much like a WWE wrestling storyline. But it ends with a thud. And I could see the faces of the people leaving the movie house that they just felt the weight of the resolution. It affected me a bit differently. I was mad. Yes, I was quite angry as the ending hit me as if I was the main character. I wanted an ass-whupping, Stone Cold Steve Austin style. I wanted Cage to do a Rambo. I wanted this to be more Hollywood. Of course it didn’t happen, and that’s why this is something special. After watching this, I felt like I had to go home and take a shower as I felt as used as Cage's character was. It reminds me of Jason Biggs' classic line in American Pie "I've been used... I've been used" only in a sad, sick way. Ugh.
Rating: 4/5 * * * *
A bad mood that's good.
(More spoilers and thoughts in the comments)
4 comments:
More spoilers and thoughts:
- OK what really creeped me out were the women. And the bees to for some reason. They had some good-looking actresses in this movie (Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski), but they were scary not in the Sharon Stone Basic Instinct sense, but more in the Blair Witch sense. Ugh.
- Yes, there were many plot holes and scenes that didn't seem to have anything to do with the story: the car accident, hallucinations, woman covered with bees, why did they have to kill the pilot, etc. Though this made the movie less realistic, I really didn't mind as it was in line with the overall mood. I usually like realism but when fantasy is as well made as this one, I don't mind.
- I do plan to watch the original. I have a feeling this remake will be the better movie. The same way I felt that The Ring Hollywood version was better than Ringu.
- Many people have voiced their hatred for this movie. But I think they dislike it just because they don't like the ending. I didn't like the ending too because I didn't like what happened to Nicholas Cage's character, but that's just how the story goes.
- I also felt that the movie should have ended with the burning wicker man for the full "thud" effect. I think they added the extra scene with Leelee Sobieski in the bar to soften the blow to moviegoers who may find the original ending too heavy.
- I know some women who should be on the island. They will make excellent cast members for The Wicker Man.
odd thing. i dont watch as much tv and movies anymore ... got no time ... i have this huge suspicion its either too dumb or its trying to brainwash me.
What a coincidence, me too. Not much TV and hardly any movies. I think I watched more when hanging out with you, Jeth & co. But nowadays there's no reason to go out and catch a movie, so I just focus on the few films that really interest me.
Either TV is getting less interesting or perhaps the whole medium is on a downward trend. Lately it's mostly podcasts, internet, and fewer TV.
This will have ramifications on dangerousreviewers as we watch less stuff to review. Have to think about this.
what do you think of the new way of deploying applications and libraries in vc++ 2005? and manifests. it does matter because when you try to use a DLL that wasnt in the manifest. the program will complain. im trying to look for a easy article to read. the one at MSDN is just there seems to be too many words ... what do you think?
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