El culto siniestro

If there's ever a poll for the most shameful remake of all time, LaBute's film will have a certain medal position. A truly dreadful slap in the face to all admirers of Hardy's iconic original. A film with no atmosphere, no suspense and stupidly chatty, with a few cheap scares and where the hell are the singing and dancing numbers, which were an essential element of Hardy’s original and gave it an unmistakable appeal??!! Moreover, the whole concept of La Bute's remake is bad and tramples on the essence of Hardy's work. La Bute turned the originally bigoted and fatherly constable into an action hero (played by Cage) with a gun in his hand and some kicks, plus a "Commando" parental motive. The original constable's fumbling, astonishment and faint suspicion is gone (Cage's policeman is a very determined man and has no doubt about the evil committed), as is the fundamental surprise of the twist (the burning is mentioned from the very beginning ??!!). The action bees and the same annoying flashback to the police officer's traumatic experience repeated several times (what a cliché!) are just icing on the cake. La Bute, I love your debut, but this is a piece of shit! PS: I almost fell out of my chair at Cage's kick to Leelee Sobieski's face, relieved laughter, comedy... (08.10.2006)

A scripturally-neutered remake that completely disrespects the basic premise of the original film and bases the entire plot on a cheap crime-thriller that is sorely lacking in the mysterious atmosphere created by strange folk-song interludes and witty dialogue full of the conflicting mindsets of a forged Christian and a pagan community. Cage's cop Edward Malus is just a dry psychological sketch of all the menial clichés (the trauma of being on duty, the constantly recurring flashbacks), and at no point does the director dare to deviate from this template. Out of respect (in this case, however, it is a proper mockery) for the original, it sticks to the original outcome, but the final explanation is (like most of the "thematic" dialogues) just a bunch of pseudo-philosophical bullshit about harmony with nature. Unfortunately (not only because of the overacting actors but also because of the overall stupidity of the performance), it makes your ears bleed with every second word. Cage must have raked in most of the $40 million budget for his role because the poetically picturesque cinematography comes across as very cheap kitsch and overall it's a lame piece of trash that makes most people avoid the original rather than be impressed by it. (13.10.2006)

Para los que no conozcan la película original solo será un thriller muy malo. Para los conocedores de la película original, el nuevo Wicker Man es un completo insulto al original y un juego sin sentido que no podría funcionar ni sobre el papel. Neil LaBute es un escritor terrible y un mal director. Su dirección de actores es terrible. Sin embargo, gracias a esto, la película se está convirtiendo poco a poco en una especie de extraño placer culpable para algunos espectadores. La interacción de Nicholas Cage con las abejas digitales es ya legendaria (cuidado, hay una versión de la película de la que desgraciadamente se ha cortado esta mejor escena). De hecho, la frenética actuación de Cage es lo único que hace que Wicker Man sea entretenida. Y realmente no puedo entender cómo alguien querría un cameo en este lío. (30.09.2018)