The power of Christ is not that compelling…
The H-Bomb: Young seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) is having doubts about joining the Priesthood (and about his belief in God in general). So, he is sent to Rome to take a course in Exorcism, where he, being the pragmatic fellow that he is, makes no attempt at hiding his skepticism. His professor Father Xavier (Ciaran Hinds), assigns him to study under practicing Exorcist Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins).
Michael soon finds that Trevant is rather unorthodox in his methods as he observes him perform an Exorcism on Rosaria, a 16-year old pregnant girl who is believed to be demonically possessed. At first Michael is unconvinced, believing that the girl, and later Trevant himself, are simply nuts. But as time wears on, he sees and hears things that he simply cannot write off with scientific explanations, and after someone close to him dies, Michael finds his own spirituality re-awakened in time to fight the demonic force that has now targeted him.
Inspired by true events (bullshit alarm sounding!), “The Rite” is a film that I’m a little torn on. On one hand, I’ve always found stories about demonic presence or possession to be intriguing in an unsettling way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a devout agnostic, but there’s just something about this subject matter that has always gotten under my skin, and as such, there are many moments in the film that I thought were legitimately creepy.
At the same time, I found this overly familiar “Exorcist” clone to be exactly that… an overly familiar “Exorcist” clone that, despite an interesting twist late in the story, follows an all too traveled path to a foreseeable ending that, for me, diluted the potential power that its many unnerving moments could have had. The story tries to get around this by having Trevant make a joking reference to spinning heads and spitting pea soup, but the scenes featuring the possessed Rosaria do nothing but conjure up memories of Regan MacNeil.
Another problem the film has is during it’s climax, which goes way over the top and allows Hopkins to chew up the scenery like it’s nobody’s business. Where the movie should be at it’s most powerful, it just becomes downright silly. Sometimes less is truly more, guys. This is especially true in horror films.
Also, it seemed to take Michael a little too long to come around and accept that there was something supernatural happening. He’s able to dismiss Rosaria’s sudden ability to speak English and her excessive strength with practical explanations, but when the possessed girl actually starts to tell him details of his past that she couldn’t possibly know about and he’s still not willing to believe that something out of the ordinary is going on, I stopped believing in this character.
Mikael Hafstrom (“1408”) goes the stylish route with his direction and manages to shape some rather eerie scenes, it’s just too bad the script is so “been there, done that.” As far as the performances go, relative newcomer O’Donoghue is very solid as the conflicted Michael. He has a strong presence and gives the character a lighter side when appropriate, which helps in him coming across as a naturalistic, rounded character.
Hopkins, when he isn’t hamming it up, shows us that he’s still one of the best in the business. Unfortunately, when he does kick in to overdrive, oh dear… just be prepared to laugh at times when you know you’re not supposed to be laughing. “Silence of the Hams”, anyone? If only hams would be silent.
As for everyone else, Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones are wasted in throwaway roles. Rutger Hauer has a few fleeting scenes as Michael’s father, I just wish he had more. Alice Braga shows up as a reporter researching a story on exorcisms. She does fine, but aside from being a confidant and potential love interest for Michael, the character wasn’t really needed.
On the scale of Satanic movies, I’d say that this doesn’t even hold a black candle to “The Exorcist”, but it’s far superior to all of the “Exorcist” sequels and prequels, which ain’t saying a whole hell of a lot, but… well… it ain’t saying a whole hell of a lot. “The Rite” did have moments that were truly chilling, but again, the story is very old hat, steeped in demonic cliché, and I can’t really recommend it. Watch “The Exorcist” again, instead.
