On paper, this must have looked like a good idea. Take a parochially British, low-budget British cult 'horror' classic from 1977 that has dated rather badly, and remake it for a modern American audience.
Alas, in practice, the remake of The Wicker Man has turned into something of a disaster, at least so far as the reviews (from both critics and the general public) are concerned. I don't think I've ever seen an imdb score below 40%!
In fairness this isn't a calamity of Batman and Robin or The Avengers proportions, but if you're familiar with the original then you're best advised to steer clear. This 2006 remake has none of the charm, terror, scripting skill or acting virtuosity of the original.
Nicolas Cage, who also produced the picture, plays the policeman at the heart of the story, but alas his performance holds none of the self-righteous anger and outright fear that made the original so memorable. He mumbles his way through the hammiest of lines, with a rewrite that turns the original Christianity vs paganism story of the original into a silly tale of Men vs Women in a matriarchal society.
The film opens with Cage being traumatised after a car accident where he is unable to save either of the two female passengers, which include a sullen little girl who appears to think she's been hired to play Damien in The Omen. The director believes this introduction helps set Cage up as a broken man, something the plot needs given the throwing away of the original film's strong Christian morality of the main hero that helped explain his actions. But this set-up is presented in such a confusing way that one is never sure if one is watching a tale of the supernatural or a more straightforward thriller. The frequent use of the opening scene, in flashbacks and dream sequences, where new details that give clues as to what is to come only confuse such that one is never sure is we are meant to see Cage as some sort of clairvoyant, or just someone strung out on medication who has dreams that happen to come true.
After the set-up we find Cage's character on on home leave, recovering from the trauma of what he has witnessed, when he receives a letter from an old flame who ran out on him just after they got engaged. She writes to say that she is worried that her young daughter has gone missing and asks Cage's character to help. He flies out to the obscure island of Summersisle (the extra 's' in the title is apparently because the Summerisle of the original was too difficult to say!) and encounters an odd island where the main export is rare honey. It soon becomes obvious that rather odd women rule the roost on the island, with what few men are in evidence playing very subservient roles, and that something is very remiss with something dark and mysterious being covered up by all the islanders.
The error of the poor script is only compounded by the leaden direction and slow unwinding of the plot. There's no real suspense, and the low-budget charm of the original is completely lost. Admittedly those unfamiliar with the original may get taken along for the curious ride, but it's a very bumpy, very confusing one that lacks the genuine unease and horror of the original. Part of the problem is Cage himself - his shouty, mumbling speech is too familiar to movie goers who've seen him playing Nicolas Cage one time too often. But the real problem is down to the dreadful script, where the introduction of a very silly bee-obsessed society, and the misogynistic portrayal of women by writer/director Neil La Bute, who has something of a track-record here, make what should be horrifying simply laughable.
The direction is competent, without being exciting, and unfortunately the music score by Angelo Badalamenti only accentuates this - it's predictable and dull, sounding like something you've heard a gazillion times before. The cast don't look like they have any confidence in the script either, with Ellen Burstyn playing the whole Lady Summersisle character as if she were appearing in a particularly bad, low-budget Star Trek episode, simply to earn enough to pay the bills. Christopher Lee in drag would have been more convincing!
The film is presented here in a different form from its British theatrical release. Some extra scenes that originally featured in the trailer but then went AWOL are apparently included, but a 'twist' coda ending from the British theatrical release that jumps forward 3 months in time has been removed, presumably because early reviewers were so appalled by it.
On a happier note the picture transfer is nothing short of stunning. Wide-angle, deep-focus shots of some beautiful country gardens and wooded backdrops really highlight the difference between standard definition and high definition, and there isn't a fleck or speckle to be seen anywhere.
The sound is less impressive, and I felt that more could have been made of the surround-sound, particularly to help elevate the uneasy, horrifying aspects of the story. As it is there's a bit of surround-sound bird whittering, and the occasional loud bang to make the audience jump in clichéd style, but not much else.
Extra's wise, the disc is disappointing, with just a commentary track and a trailer. The trailer only really serves to show how much worse a film can look in rather bleached out standard definition format when compared to the high definition presentation of the main feature that's available on the same disk. This lack of extra's seems extremely lame as, yet again, the lie is given to the claim that the HD-DVD format will allow more, and better presented, features to be included. At the very least some sort of 'Making of' featurette could have been included, and given that even the original theatrical ending is missing it's obvious that little effort has been made in putting together this high definitoon release.
The commentary features the director, who pretty much monopolises the whole thing, together with his dour editor (clearly wishing he was elsewhere and contributing little other than the odd monosyllabic reply) and two of the actresses who are reduced to vague anecdotes about how nice their costumes were and how much they liked the island they filmed on. La Bute himself has little to reveal, with a po-faced, humourless presentation that makes the commentary track almost as much hard work as the film itself. As the credits roll the writer/director tells his audience how proud he is of the film, at which point the only possible reaction can be one of much rolling of eyes.
The film really isn't quite as terrible as most have made out, but unfortunately there is very little to recommend it, other than the fact it can be used as a showcase for the picture quality of the HD-DVD format. As such, this is definitely a rental, rather than a purchase, and even then only if you haven't seen the original and find there's little else available on the HD-DVD format.
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