Movie Review: THE WICKER MAN Author: Paul Coffland Thursday, August 31, 2005, 11:59 AM CENTRAL TIME U.S. Release Date: September 1, 2005 Distributor: Warner Bros. Director: Neil LaBute Writing Credits: Neil LaBute Cast: Nicholas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, et al. Genre: Drama/Horror/Mystery/Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.thewickermanmovie.com/ TRAILERS: Via www.apple.com./trailers The consensus among the folks with which I viewed this film was stunningly clear: we were expecting the worst while hoping for the best. I think we were rewarded handsomely. The beginning of The Wicker Man features the scene from the frequently seen movie trailer where a motorcycle cop played by Nicolas Cage retrieves a doll thrown into the road by a precocious child during a routine traffic stop. Much to his horror, an eighteen-wheeler wipes out the station wagon that he had just pulled to the side of the road. His attempt to break into the car is suddenly stopped by a blast that knocks him to the ground. When officer Edward Malus regains his health, he takes a few weeks off from work for recovery and reflection. During this time, he is contacted by his ex-fiancé who needs his help finding her missing daughter. He accepts the challenge and flies to Washington state to find the commune where his former gal has decided to live. The commune is a strange place where women rule and men are subservient breeding stock. The treatment of the resident children is so disturbing that his assumption of the young girl’s plight is dire at best. There were several components of this film that really made it work. The first was the cinematography. The opening scenes do a perfect job of capturing the beauty of rural, valley landscapes, yet capturing the often listless, lonely lives of people who live in such places. As the story progresses, the Puget Sound provides the kind of pictures that tempt me to finally take that long anticipated Pacific Northwest vacation to see my favorite Washington uncle that I haven’t seen in quite some time. While extremely green and tranquil, the idyllic surroundings are haunting and promise danger throughout the movie. The second component that I thoroughly enjoyed were the well-placed injections of humor through out the story. Normally, I absolutely loathe the use of humor in horror flicks. I’m not sitting in the theatre to laugh. Scare me! But this time it worked. Cage delivers many timely humorous lines that had my screening companions and I rolling with laughter between eerie, disturbing images. Finally I was impressed by the abject lack of violence. The control the female leaders of the commune wield over the others is not born out of violence or threat of violence. They are just so much smarter, conniving, and willful that it seems almost plausible that some of these things could happen. While I would never be described as a Nicolas Cage fan, this role suits him: quirky, funny, uncomfortable, and disturbed. I expected little and received much. PAUL’S GRADE: B+ Paul Coffland is the business manager and a writer/reviewer for ON-FILM.NET. Send feedback to pcoffland@houston.rr.com.