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[The Rite]
Plot:Based on the upcoming nonfiction book by Matt Baglio, involves a disillusioned American seminary student, who attends exorcism school at the Vatican, and ultimately finds his faith through encounters with demonic forces.
Cast:Anthony Hopkins,
Colin O'Donoghue,
Ciaran Hinds,
Alice Braga.
My Thoughts:The power of christ compels you...to take a quick catnap.
Review:I am not normally a big fan of exorcism horror. It works on some levels sure, "The Covent" and "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose" for example. And if you wanna get really old school, "The Exorcist". But the truth is, not much can be done with this genre that is new. Exorcisms in horror films are always kept to the usual basics. The possessed person spits out blood, or some sort of slime or goo. They curse and swear a lot, and make the usual threats. All the while, reciting some creepy rhymes or biblical verses.
Then along comes "The Rite", a film which I'd bill as a more non-mainstream exorcism film. It tries it's hand rather at being the "adult"...in the room full of kids. While every horror film out there these days, is seemingly trying to lure in that young teen audience, "The Rite" instead ignores the gore and blood, but then uses the psychological scares and tricks of the genre trade, to try and do something for the over 18 crowd. Anthony Hopkins being tapped for the lead proves this. Hopkins juice with moviegoers is definitely a sign that the filmmakers wanted to lure in mature audiences.
Hopkins is not exactly Kellan Lutz or Rob Pattinson. Hence, his audience is less likely to be chatting on their cells or talking up a storm in the theater as you're trying to watch the film. But that doesn't mean that Hopkins presence in a movie automatically makes it cinematic gold. "The Rite"...is proof of that. The film is based on Matt Baglio's true story novel where a young seminary student named Michael, seemingly doesn't believe in what he does. The age old story of a priest or priest-in-training, who just doesn't have "faith"...these days.
So he is sent on a trip by his superiors, to the Vatican...where he hooks up with an older, seasoned priest, Father Lucas, played by Hopkins. The goal here as the movie lays out, is for the good priest Father Lucas, an exorcist...to show Michael through various encounters with demonic forces, how to find his faith. Thrown into the mix for all of this, is Alice Braga's character Angeline...a local reporter who gets involved when a pregnant girl claims she's possessed by demons. The problem with "The Rite" is that it's such a dry, and by-the-numbers movie. You can guess what's gonna happen way too far in advance.
The movie never really twists you up, never surprises, shocks, or misleads. It lays out how things will go from the very start, and expects you to stick around and see it all unfold. Hopkins tries his best as the humorous, and sometimes crass Father Lucas...to carry this movie to some sort of entertainment value-well...but he just cannot seem to make it drink. The movie is too slow, and for some reasons seems afraid to really grab the audience, and scare the hell out of them. Which is what "Emily Rose" did many years ago. That film wasn't super-scary, but it had it's "moments"...most certainly.
"The Rite" just drags on, and on, and on. The characters in the film are interesting, and seem...to have many different layers. But for some reason beyond Father Lucas, who seemingly comes under possession himself throughout the movie...no one else is explored to any real depths. Alice Braga, one of Hollywood's rising latin actresses, is wasted in this movie as she pops in from time to time to talk and occasionally flirt with Michael. You'd think playing the films only vital female would earn Braga more screentime, and more importance to the movie. But instead, she's kind of bandied around as a pretty face who makes her presence known when the movie has some time to kill, or a story gap to fill in.
As for Michael, well Colin O'Donaghue, who I don't know very well as an actor...doesn't really make the role too intriguing or interesting to watch. Hopkins steals the show here, but then again...it was really "his" show to begin with. "The Rite" seems afraid to let anyone upstage Hopkins, which is it's eventual undoing. Hopkins is the center of everything. Too much even. Sure, we love to see another brilliant Anthony Hopkins performance, but at this stage in his career, he should be passing the torch to younger actors, and fading to the background in movies.
Instead, he kind of just owns this entire film, in a way where it feels the other actors are steam-rolled and pushed to the wayside. And I'm not sure how in a nearly 2 hour film, with only three main players...you can claim there wasn't enough screentime to go around. I'm pretty sure there was. I mean, hell...the frogs seemed to get more screentime that Alice Braga did. And by the way, where were the scares? The real scares I mean? This movie kind of gave us those creepy "open-the-door" moments. Cliche instances seen in just about every supernatural horror film.
Where someone opens a door, and sees something in a room that shouldn't be there. In this films case, it's frogs. And frogs aren't scary...period. Possessed or not. But back to the subject of Hopkins, truth be told, without him stealing the spotlight here, well...jacking it from everyone else really. This movie wouldn't have really reached being a two star effort. Hopkins makes the most of his screentime, and his character is very well-rounded. Too bad...we cannot say the same for O'Donaghue's character Michael, and Braga's character Angeline.
But in Braga's case, doing a film with Sir Anthony will probably boost her career even more, so in the end...she gains more than she loses here. "The Rite" ends on a predictable note, but it didn't come as much of a surprise to me. If there's anything this film is not, it's shocking. "The Rite" continues a bad trend for exorcism horror films. "The Last Exorcism" atleast managed to conclude on a strong note. "The Rite" on the other hand, starts weak, and ends weaker.
Positives:The story had potential. It was just squandered badly. Hopkins turns in another great performance.
Negatives:Hopkins hogs too much of the spotlight in this movie. Also the scare factor here is about a 1.5. But if you're a soccer mom, you'll probably wet yourself. That's how unscary this movie is. The ending was a terrible fiasco, and the exorcism scenes are filled with the usual bells and whistles. Nothing new here.
Overall:One and a half stars out of four.
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