The Rite

 

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), disillusioned with his job as a mortician, decides to enter a seminary school and abdicate his vows upon completion, thereby getting a free college degree. Four years have passed, and Michael is being ordained to the diaconate at the seminary. However, after ordination, he writes a letter of resignation to his superior, Father Matthew, citing a lack of faith. Father Matthew (Toby Jones), apparently wanting to talk Michael out of his decision, attempts to catch up to Michael on the street. He trips as he walks over a curb, causing a cyclist to swerve into the path of an oncoming car. The cyclist, a young woman is critically injured and believes Michael to be a priest, after seeing his clerical garb, then asks him for absolution. After initial hesitation and unable to refuse, Michael comforts her and performs the blessing ritual absolving her sins. Seeing how calmly he handled the situation, Father Matthew tells Michael he is called to be a priest, whether Michael believes this or not. He later approaches Michael with an invitation to travel to Rome in order to attend a class on exorcism. Michael reluctantly accepts after being told by Father Matthew that he will be levied a $100,000 student loan if he leaves immediately, but that if he still desires to resign from his position after taking the class, then they will discuss it then (hinting that he may be free to leave).

During classes, he meets a young woman, Angelina (Alice Braga), who is also taking the course. He soon learns that she is a reporter who has been asked to cover the course for an article in a newspaper. Realizing Michael is a skeptic and is very tentative in his faith, Father Xavier (Ciarán Hinds) later asks Michael to see a friend of his, Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who is a renowned Welsh Jesuit exorcist. Michael agrees and meets Father Lucas at his home, where he sees one of the priest’s patients: a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl. It is later revealed that she was raped by her father, which led to her possession. However, Michael remains skeptical, even after witnessing several preternatural events, such as the girl coughing up three long nails and fluently speaking English. She pointedly reminds Michael of the last patient he embalmed and of his loathing for his father. He later speaks with Angelina again, who asks him to relay the information that he gets from Father Lucas to her, as she has tried to get an interview with him many times but has been refused. Michael declines. Meanwhile, the possessed girl’s condition worsens, prompting Father Lucas and Michael to have her taken to a hospital for further care. There, Father Lucas performs another exorcism on the girl while Michael observes. They leave the hospital room together with Michael while Father Lucas stays overnight outside the girl’s room. Late that night, she miscarries; the baby dies from cardiac arrest and the mother from blood loss. Disheartened, Father Lucas feels he has failed her. After Michael sees this he decides to confer with Angelina.

After the death of the young woman, Father Lucas begins behaving strangely, exhibiting signs of demonic possession. Michael and Angelina later find him sitting outside of his house in the rain. Father Lucas takes them into his house and, knowing himself to be possessed, tells Michael that he needs to find Father Xavier in order to perform the exorcism. Angelina and Michael try desperately to contact and find Father Xavier; however, they learn that he is out of contact for three days. Learning this, Michael decides to perform the exorcism on his own, with Angelina present. After constant rebuking by the demon and a long, drawn out fight, Michael regains his once lost faith and is able to force the demon to reveal its name, which is Baal. He completes the exorcism, and the powerful demon leaves Father Lucas. Successful, Michael leaves Rome, returning to the United States and to his life.

The final scene of the film shows Michael, now Father Michael Kovak, entering a confessional and beginning to hear a girl’s confession, revealing that he has found his calling as a priest and did not resign.

REVIEW:

I heard one of my friends bemoan this film as “a waste of good talent such as Anthony Hopkins and Ciaran Hinds”, and yet, I felt they were the only ones worth watching in this film.

Now, before you get the wrong idea about this film…yes, it is a horror film, but it barely can be called. I would put this more in the category with flicks such as Season of the Witch and, to a lesser extent, Constantine. It isn’t necessarily horrifying, but it does have those elements.

The effects here are few and far between, but that is because this is apparently based on something that happened in real life, so there very well can’t be these random demons flying all around the screen. Today’s audiences apparently are either too cynical for that, or just don’t have the ability to suspend disbelief that way folks used to in order to fully enjoy something like that. This is why we have to deal with a leathery looking Anthony Hopkins and a pregnant chick who is literally spitting nails.

Storywise, I think this could have been better. I’m not sure why, but I sort of just lost interest a little before the midway point. I think that was more of a pacing issue, but it felt like things were already barely moving, and then they just got murkier.

As far as exorcism films go, The Rite is alright, but it is no The Exorcist. With that being said, the performance of Anthony Hopkins after he gets possessed brings to mind the greatness we know him for in The Silence of the Lambs.

We can all but forget the rest of the cast. With the exception of some nice convolutions by the pregnant chick that was possessed and of course the eye candy that is Alice Braga, they were all forgettable. Even Ciaran Hinds turned out a dull reading. It just seemed as if there was no life to any of them. Hell, even Hopkins was a bit wooden until he got possessed. Maybe that’s what should have happened to them all?

Final verdict on The Rite…well, it is ok, but not great. The biggest flaw with this film is that the exorcism aren’t anything to write home about and they really should be. There is a line when we first meet Hopkins and he says something to the effect of don’t expect pea soup. An obvious nod to the 70s exorcism flicks, and yet something like would have made this more enjoyable for me. That point aside, I know this could have been a much more boring and drawn out flick, not to mention just an all around worse movie than the average outing it turned out to be. I’m not going to say you need to rush out and see this, but it would be something to keep in mind if you’re ever at a loss for what to watch.

3 out of 5 stars