The Wicker Man Reviews

The 1973 film for me while slightly missing out on the classic status was very effective and well done, very bizarre and disturbing when it needed to be and elevated by a brilliant Christopher Lee especially. Anyway that is enough, for I am not going to try comparing the film to this dross. Both this and the Psycho remakes were completely unnecessary and awful on their own terms, but if I had to edge out which was worse, Psycho but that is not saying much.

This remake of The Wicker Man may be glossy, it may be expensive, but guess what? In my opinion, it was completely and utterly pointless as well. It was hilarious but for all the wrong reasons, whether it is the meaningless plot change about Nicolas Cage's character being allergic to bees or the finale, which was way overdone in the sense I couldn't stop laughing.

The film certainly looks glossy and expensive, but that's the thing, they overdo it with the visuals as well so it all looks flashy with no sense of melancholy or menace underneath. And I can't count the number of scenes that were dumbed or dulled down, even the pagan May Day rituals weren't that convincing, not to mention the plot, dull, thin and meandering. The script is sorely lacking as well the dialogue at worst was absolutely laughable, as is the direction, and I was not impressed by the acting either. Nicolas Cage is an uninspired lead literally sleepwalking through his role, while Kate Beahan and Ellen Burstyn(who was so brilliant in Requiem for a Dream) can't do anything with their characters, no surprise seeing as the script leaves them little to work with.

Overall, a real mess of a remake with next to no redeeming qualities. The bottom line is give it a pass and watch the far superior original instead. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Basically, I went to see this movie with some rather morbid curiosity. Indeed, it has the reputation of being one terrible flick, especially since it was starring good old Nicolas Cage. When you hear that this flick is even worse than his typical recent work, you’re pretty much prepared to watch some terrible trash. To start with, I haven't seen the original version so I cannot compare both versions but, honestly, I didn't think it was as bad as everyone was saying. Of course, it was still pretty damned average and there were indeed some rather weird scenes here and there which didn’t make much sense but, honestly, I have seen much worse than this (alright, maybe I shouldn’t be too proud of it…). Anyway, I thought that the directing by Neil LaBute (one promising director who unfortunately never really fulfilled the high expectations I had for him) was not bad at all and I was, for a while, intrigued by the whole story. But, indeed, the plot and the characters kept getting weirder and weirder for no apparent reason and after a while, I didn't care much about what was going on the screen. Still, I’m sorry but I seriously don’t think it is one of the worst movies starring Nicolas Cage (that the guy is throwing away his career is pretty obvious by now though). To conclude, it is definitely a rather average movie and it is not really worth a look but don't believe the hype pretending it is the worst movie ever made.

This is one of those "so bad its good" films; with an IMDB rating of 3.6, a rotten tomatoes score of 15% and a semi cult like status among certain parts of the internet (for being bad), its obviously not a great movie by conventional standards but I feel like it does has a fairly decent (albeit unintentional) comedic value that cant be overlooked and earns it a higher rating than normal. In a span of 5 minutes, Nicolas Cage slugs an old woman in the face, spin kicks Leelee Sobieski into a wall hard enough to give her the fakest on screen concussion I've ever seen, then dresses up in a bear costume and goes about his business, that alone is enough to give any movie at least a 5 star rating in my book

I actually really enjoyed it!
Not one of my favourite movies ofcourse, buut one of the best i've seen in a while.

Its a horror, but really not that scary. I have to admit some things 'freaked me out' but didnt really scare me.
This is a good thing, because horror really isnt my type of movie.
I s'pose the plot is a bit confusing at times, but then again its supposed to be a little weird so you have no idea whats going to happen.
I wont say what, but the ending is really stupid. Well, actually, now i think about it, it was a good ending for the movie. I mean, not all movies have to have a 'happily-ever-after' ending, but this one is unsatisfactory and leaves you more sad than happy.

Nicholas Cage was the only actor I had heard of before, even though he isnt very good at least there was a familiar face. If he wasnt in it then i wouldn't have seen the movie in the first place ...
A couple of the other actors (i can't name names) werent that good in my opinion ...

Not 10/10, but certainly worth seeing.

This movie was long, drawn out, and tough to sit through. Did I mention that it was predictable---I had never seen or heard of the original, but I definitely saw the end coming.

Not a great movie at all. Cage's character is just plain stupid, stumbling around like a complete idiot screaming "Rowan" for most of the movie, and pushing himself in people's faces just because he's a cop. Right at the beginning of the movie, he overhears mention of "The Wicker Man", but when he finds out about the pagan rituals/festivals on the island, not once does he ask about this.

As a cop, he isn't any good...he doesn't make any connections and try to figure things out the way anyone would, using information that is given to him. And, Willow, his ex-fiancee, tells him right at the start, not to trust anything that he hears or sees. Anyone with a brain would include not trusting her right then and there.

All the people on the island are predictable, and Ellen Burstyn kept reminding me of Louise Fletcher (who I am glad didn't play the role).

This movie was completely terrible from start to finish, should never have been made (it does nothing for any of the actors' credibility)---but it does have a couple of "shocking" moments if you aren't fully paying attention to the movie (which I wasn't---it being so bad!). And I stupidly watched the uncut version, so I suppose I sat through even more of this than those who saw the theatrical version!!

Why a remake of this dull, predictable, non-thriller ever came to be is a question by films end that still remains unanswered. Nicholas Cage continues to disappoint with every film he releases and with a plot that could have been wrapped up in about ten minutes kills you for an hour and a half, you start to wonder why anybody trusts Cage to go on acting.