The Wicker Man is a Waste of Money: Witches and Witchcraft Have Never Seemed More Contrived

Starring Nicolas Cage (World Trade Center, Adaptation), Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist) and Kate Beahan (Flightplan), The Wicker Man is more of a big headache than it is scary, dramatic or entertaining. 

Nicolas Cage plays policeman, Edward Malus. He is subject to visions of an accident that may or may not have actually happened. He is lured to an island to investigate the disappearance of a little girl, the daughter of former fiance - now a Sister Willow (Beahan), and discovers a shocking truth. In the process, Edward unearths some strange things leading to the woman who created the island and leader of its inhabitants, Sister Somersisle (Burstyn). 

Somersisle - the island looks like it was made in the foundation that women are more superior than men since most of the residents are female, worshipping the "Goddess of Life". While the concept that these women are peaceful in nature is obviously throughout the course of the film, it quickly becomes clear that they've had a secret agenda from the beginning. Such secrecy and deception leaves Edward panic-stricken and almost trigger happy by the end.  

With the trailer's freaky scenes and imagery, The Wicker Man looked like the scary movie to beat all scary movies this year. Whether or not they tried to make a scary movie is beside the point. They didn't do a very good job of it. There aren't any frightening images. The story falls limp, the concept goes off the reservation and the overall effect is lost along the way.

Nic Cage's Edward appears to be suffering from psychotic episodes instead of having disturbing memory flashbacks. While Cage does a good job, his character and the entire film for that matter isn't written all that well. It's as if the writer/ director Neil LaBute (Possession) wrote down a bunch of different ideas for a film, threw them in a blender and pieced everything together later, making The Wicker Man feel more like a headache than anything else.