Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is an excellent terror movie. It is not too deep but deep enough to provoke scares, thoughts and entertaining reactions. Anthony Hopkins stars as an aloof and eccentric exorcist, in Catholic Rome. He is sent a confused student for shadowing, who ends up having to help the exorcist who becomes possessed. It is all better than it sounds, with some great acting, scenery, scares, tension and possessions. This film will appeal more to, and impress, viewers open to this kind of religious thriller but here lies a decent drama with several scary and tense moments.

Movie Review: "The Rite" (2011)Thanks to an engraving performance from Sir Anthony Hopkins as the real-life figure Father Lucas Trevant, fighting inner demonic forces in a dungeon like black-out space set design; yet another movie about exorcism comparing with William Friedkin directed "The Exorcist" (1973), "The Rite" directed by Mikael Hafström, after a fairly entertaining thriller "1408" (2007), manages to come through its 105 Minutes running time (excl. end crawler) without being a bore. In fact the picture has some striking cinematic shots captured by lighting cameraman Ben Davis, underdeveloped, yet story-elevating supporting characters, portrayed by actress Alice Braga and actor Ciarán Hinds, which unfortunately can not trigger the sidekick leading character of Michael Kovak, performed by actor Colin O'Donoghue given a unsatisfactory substitute in a real-life-character role, which want to match actors Anthony Hopkins & Ryan Gosling for second collaboration after the much more thrilling counter-performance-giving picture of "Fracture" (2007) directed by Gregory Hoblit.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Since the uncompromising success of the 1973 horror film 'The Exorcist', Hollywood has spawned many attempts to revitalize the concept of exorcisms and demons in the effective manner the aforementioned film achieved. The results are rarely successful, or even passable for that matter. This religious-based horror thriller offers a slightly less sobering portrayal of exorcism and casting the demon out of a supposed tortured soul. Director Mikael Hafstrom does so by reducing grotesque depictions of blood and gore, and horrifically graphic imagery that have become established tropes of the exorcism-horror subgenre. His efforts transpire to a slightly more realistic approach on the Catholic Church's practices of exorcism. But the question is does the film succeed in terms of scares? Sadly, it does not, nor does it amount to anything beyond a bland exorcism masquerade. This film follows Michael Kovak (played by Colin O'Donoghue), a twenty-something year old seminary student struggling with his faith who holds resentment for his mortican father(played by Rutger Hauer) who wants him to go into the family business. He is coaxed by his mentor Father Matthew (played by Toby Jones) to travel to Rome and take a course on exorcism taught by Father Xavier (played by Ciaran Hinds), hoping it could restore his faith. Seeing his crisis in faith, Xavier sends Michael to an unorthodox exorcism expert Father Lucas (played by Anthony Hopkins). As the two bond, Lucas prepares for what could be his most faith- defining exorcism of his life. From the first quarter of the film, it grows almost explicitly clear what director Hafstrom is trying to achieve, and there is some compelling evidence that his ideas have potential. Unfortunately, the direction in which he operates falls shallow of energy that could have made for a more compelling supernatural vehicle. The first hour moves at a sluggish pace, offering striking arguments on the existence of God as well as compelling debates on the presence of heaven and hell. This accounts to some somewhat intriguing commentary on Catholicism. But when it comes to building up the story, that is where things get increasing faulty. The story grows tedious and slaps viewers with jump scares of grotesque imagery that come far and few in between, before arriving at its formulaic climax. And it certainly does not help that the lead character in which the story revolves around in such a humdrum character while Anthony Hopkins's Father Lucas is the one exceedingly stealing the show. Colin O'Donoghue's performance is fine to say the least, but it does little justice for how uninteresting his character. Easily the striking star here is Anthony Hopkins who breaths immense atmosphere and grit to his role. Looking back at his talent in roles such as Hannibul Lector in the 'Hannibul' series', it is little wonder why Hopkins effectively suites the role. In the end, he at least becomes the saving grace of this otherwise forgettable exorcism fare. The Rite may wield the compelling theatrical talent of Anthony Hopkins, but it fails to deliver the scares and thrills to compete with the criminally shallow execution. Sure, they are plenty of intriguing concepts about Catholicism and the existence of God that serves for good food-for-thought for religious viewers aching to see this film. Above it all, it is sadly forgettable.

I know THE RITE has garnered some decent reviews here on the IMDb, but for the life of me I don't see why. It's an entirely predictable (i.e., Hollywood style) exorcism thriller that wastes the talents of an excellent cast in a story that's both plodding and predictable. We're off to Italy, of course, where a young priest is suffering a crisis of faith (of course) until he hooks up with an experienced exorcist and the pair embark on some gruelling adventures.It sounds intriguing but but really, THE RITE isn't. The usual demonic possession clichés are all here, although they're toned down a bit and not explicit (and having had my fill of demonic nastiness in the likes of the EVIL DEAD remake and others, I'm not upset about that). But everything that happens is so obvious and largely uninteresting that it's impossible to get excited or indeed interested in. The story constantly feels pedestrian instead of innovative.Anthony Hopkins puts in his usual solid performance, although I felt a bit sorry for him with the role he's been given here; it's a far cry from his former glory days. Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, and Rutger Hauer prop up the supporting cast in various roles, but they're given little to do and way too much of the screen time goes to the bland likes of Colin O'Donoghue and Alice Braga.