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Men In Black 3

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Bel Ami

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The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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The Rite (Film)

by Matthew Pejkovic | March 09, 2011 14:03 | Edited March 09, 2011 14:06

Weighed down by an overly earnest approach, this fails to tap into the crucial emotional element and subsequently ends up a dreary affair.

The Rite is one exorcism movie which takes itself very seriously. Not to say that other entries in this over-presented sub genre treat the subject lightly, yet there is a weight and earnestness which separates it from its peers. Unfortunately, it proves to be too much for director Mikael Hafstrom (1408) and his cast to handle.

 

Colin O'Donoghue plays Michael Kovak, a lapsed Catholic from a deeply religious family who enters the seminary in order to score a free education. When the Church orders every parish in America to have an exorcist, Michael is sent to Rome under the tutelage of veteran exorcist Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who is battling a few demons of his own.

 

Hafstrom presents a flair for the visual (courtesy of the sharp photography by Ben Davis) and the unnerving, with the exorcism of a pregnant girl (Marta Gastini) offering genuinely creepy moments.

 

Yet he fails to tap into that emotional element found in the conflict of faith within many of these characters, and as a result moments of dire straits during this battle of good versus evil are let down by a lack of consequences.

 

A lot of it comes down to the poor casting of O'Donoghue, who although he holds the screen with a stoic presence, fails to adequately portray his character's inner conflict. It is up to the well-worn shoulders of Anthony Hopkins to carry the movie, over-compensating for O'Donoghue's lack of personality, often to the point of overkill. 

 

Yet such is the struggle of The Rite. Heavy in body yet light in soul, earnest in approach yet dreary in its delivery, it is a film which cannot decide its path, and in turn finds itself walking down the road to obscurity, just like many of its kind before it.