Dir. Neil LaBute
Writ. Neil LaBute
Act. Nicholas Cage, Kate Beahan

This was a fascinating movie with an absolute horrid ending which I can only assume that the director and writers and producers wanted to copy what the original movie did. The Wicker Man is a movie with a great who dunnit story with an ending that makes sense for the movie, but is absolutely lousy to watch.

Nicholas Cage (National Treasure) is Edward, a California deputy who is traumatized by the loss of a woman and a child in a traffic accident when he receives a letter from his ex-fiancé asking him to come help her find her missing daughter. The trip takes him to a mysterious island in the middle of Puget Sound in Washington State. Their he discovers a farming enclave with weird and mysterious practices that borderline on the occult. Edward discovers that the missing child is actually his child too and becomes passionate in the search for the girl but in then end discovers that he was the main part of a sadistic plan.

I found the story to be a fascinating mystery that engaged from the beginning. I liked how the mysterious island played into every aspect of the investigation. I thought it was a thoroughly thought out story. The only flaw I saw was that the story made "Puget Sound" sound like a distant land in Washington and its not. I can't imagine the things that happen on the island actually would happen because the area is not sparsely populated but actually quite the opposite. I did enjoy that the writer and director allowed Cage's character to knock the crap out of any woman character that deserved it. Very rarely will you see a male character smack a female that should get smacked. Kudos for willing to do that.

I thought the acting was quite good. Cage gave a very Cage like performance, and Kate Beahan (The Return) was very good as the nervous, borderline psychotic ex-fiancé. I did not see the final scene coming and she was very instrumental in that scene so she did a marvelous job of hiding it. What I don't get is the actress Leelee Sobieski. Why is she cast in movies and why is it a big deal? I don't get it but it seems like every time she is in a movie it's a important, she isn't a good actress and she is not that hot, so I don't know.

****************Spoiler: the ending will be talked about here so be careful.*********

This all leads to the ending. This movie is a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name that horror director Eli Roth has said in an interview that the movie was amazing. I have to wonder if the ending is the same because it is quite a downer even though it makes sense for the movie. The ending has Cage's character being the object of the sacrifice for the festival and does not get out of it. He is burned alive in a large wooden wicker man. Following the story, this ending makes sense. Woman control this island and men are around to do some of the heavy lifting and for sex, but that's it. So I understand for the sake of the story why this happened. But for the enjoyment of the movie, it sucks. I wanted to see Cage get the little girl, shoot half of the woman on the island and then take the fiance back to the main land. I am guessing that this movie was so poorly received because of Cage's death in the ending. It's too bad that the ending over shadows the rest of the film.

I think that this film is worth seeing as long as you are prepared for the ending. It will be a huge let down and in the end you will feel cheated. But leading up to the ending, the movie is quite good.

Brian - the Naked Gun