The Rite
112 minutes
PG-13
Anthony Hopkins, Colin O'Donoghue, Alice Braga, Rutger Hauer
Directed By: Mikael Håfstrom
“What the hell did I just watch?”
-Edward Dunn
Colin (O'Donoghue) grew up without a mother. His father, Istvan (Hauer) runs a funeral home from the house they reside in (similar to the situation in My Girl). Colin is an atheist who wants to be as far away as possible from all the creepiness. Naturally, he decides to become a seminary student. Long story short, Colin ends up in Rome for exorcism training.
There is insufficient back story on all of key characters. Quite a few of these characters seemed to be directly stolen from various Kirk Cameron movies. First, you have Colin was the skeptic who finds the error of his ways, becoming a believer. Secondly, there’s an attractive journalist taking a class for an article she‘s researching. Lastly, Anthony Hopkins knows how to play a creepy guy a little too well. Part Hannibal Lecter, and part William Parrish, from Meet Joe Black.
You only expect so much from a scary movie. Such a film would need to be engaging, filled with suspense, and it would involve a mysterious ending. There doesn't even necessarily need to be a point. Yes, there were a few genuinely scary parts, but this movie is really far too boring be a horror movie. Not enough depth for a drama. There just seemed to be long strings of tedious boring interactions between the characters.
Most films have some sort of story and The Rite was sorely lacking in this department. Basically, some exorcisms are preformed and the rest of the film unfolds in a predictable fashion. The ending wasn't terrible, just the rest of the movie was.
You might want to ignore my entire review. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the movie. Perhaps I was momentarily possessed by the spirit of bored audience member.
Final Verdict: 50 out of 100
PS My review of Blue Valentine will be up shortly.