Weekend: 'Wicker Man' promises to raise goose bumps, again

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'Wicker Man' promises to raise goose bumps, again

By STEVE PERSALL
Published August 31, 2006

Filmmaker Neil LaBute is a big fan of The Wicker Man, a sensual 1973 thriller from Scotland that never caught on in U.S. theaters. Warner Bros. bought distribution rights, then figured audiences wouldn't appreciate the film's quiet chills in the wake of The Exorcist. The film, adapted by Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth, Frenzy) from his novel, achieved minor cult status despite the accidental destruction of original negatives that left future television and home video versions looking dingy and incomplete.

LaBute remembered The Wicker Man from his youth and remade it for modern audiences, retaining the creepy elements of a missing child and an island of pagan secrets investigated by a policeman outsider. The filmmaker reportedly switched the island to a matriarchal society rather than the male-dominated original, allowing LaBute to revisit the gender conflict of his In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors.

Oscar winner Nicolas Cage plays the investigator seeking the truth from unwilling sources, including Ellen Burstyn as the island's leader. Revealing anything else could spoil an ending that raised goose bumps 33 years ago. Most remakes are bad ideas in the beginning. This one may be special at the end.

A review of The Wicker Man (R) will appear Saturday on Page 2B.

- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic

Plenty of action, on and off the court

Tough guy Jason Statham (The Transporter I and II) has a problem in Crank (R) similar to the bus in Speed: His character, a hit man named Chev Chelios, has been injected with a poison that will be lethal if his heart rate drops below a certain level. (No, not 55 miles per hour.)

Chev wants revenge before the inevitable occurs but that means doing anything to keep his adrenaline pumping, chiefly beating up people and having sex with his girlfriend (Amy Smart) between brawls. Crank has a running time of only 87 minutes, but they should be hectic.

Meanwhile, a pair of talented basketball players face important decisions in Crossover (PG-13). Noah Cruise (Wesley Jonathan) has a hoops scholarship to UCLA that can pave the way to medical school, or he can follow the advice of a shifty sports agent (Wayne Brady) and declare himself eligible for the NBA draft. His best friend Tech (Anthony Mackie) wants to earn a GED and beat a longtime rival (Philip Champion) in a street game, or he can wind up in jail again.