2006’s “Wicker Man” by Neil Labute.
Starring Nicholas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Shannon, Leelee
Sobieski, and Kate Beahan.
A remake of the 1973 cult classic, Cage plays a
police officer in California (which looks strikingly like BC), who during a
routine traffic stop has his world rendered fragile. There is a collision, and
a mom and daughter die bizarrely while Cage watches helpless. Tormented by
nightmares and visions, he goes on stress leave from the force. Cage then receives
a letter from an estranged fiancee (Kate Beahan), telling him that she has a
daughter missing. Beahan lives on an isolated island commune in Washington, and
Cage decides to head up to investigate. Freed from the limitations of actually
being on duty, jurisdiction, backup, communications devices, and a plan in
general, Cage’s character discovers the commune’s philosophies and lifestyles
don’t quite jive with his (nor the criminal code).
I’d heard in other reviews about this being an essential great bad Cage movie-
and it doesn’t disappoint. Cage plows ahead with his occasionally ridiculous
police investigator schtick, while the material swings maniacally around him at
times. Some examples include a score that doesn’t match the context of the
particular scene, laugh out loud nightmare sequences, and a not too suspenseful
discovery that the barn’s wooden floor is rotten. As Cage continually unravels
into full on mania mode, “Wicker Man” saves it’s best for last. Wearing a bear
suit, Cage shows that he is skilled at fighting women, before going to a
Burning Man festival.
Too funny to be suspenseful, and too ridiculous to be scary,
“Wicker Man” ends with the sound of a bee swarming and anguished crying- is
that me?
3/5
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