Movie Review - The Rite

The Rite, starring Anthony Hopkins comes off as an Exorcist knockoff in the trailer, with creepy images, and scary makeup and Hopkins doing his best demonic look, which incidentally, is quite good, but in the end, is it enough to make this movie worthwhile? In a word, no.

The Rite is a movie about a young priest, Michael Kovak, (played by Colin O'Donoghue) with father issues who leaves the family mortuary in search of something else. He finds his path in a seminary, only to have a lack of faith he says is "like an ex girlfriend, she just keeps turning up." As a solution, one of the priests tells Kovak to see Father Lucas (Hopkins) for help on exorcisms. Once there, Kovak isn't sold on the practice until things really start hitting close to home. Now, he must find faith, or something really bad may happen.

There is a certain fascination with exorcisms. It's something that can't be proven, only believed in, so the events are always debated, but the curiosity is always the same. There are some great movies on exorcism, including The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and even last year's The Last Exorcism. All had a good spin on the story. Sadly, The Rite isn't one of them. It seems to be the same old story, just with Hopkins soaking up the celluloid. Sadly, a fresh coat of paint on the same old wall just isn't enough to keep my interest for two hours.

The first half of the film does a good job balancing whether exorcisms are shams, or a true relief to people, as the audience struggles along with the character to believe in them. It's not scary, as the trailer shows, just rather disturbing. When the second half of the movie comes, however, it just assumes you've made up your mind and tries to take you along for a creepy ride. Since it's banking on the first half selling you, it seems like a bit of a let down.

I will say Hopkins hasn't lost a step here. He is brilliant as an exorcist who gets caught up in everything, relying on Kovak for salvation. He is creepy, and comforting all at the same time, and the films climax will leave you thoroughly disturbed only because of Hopkins great portrayal.

The movie is also extremely hung up on the religious aspect. If you are like me, and don't particularly like religion with a side of cinema, then this movie may rub you the wrong way. It's very Christian in it's beliefs, and pretending to question them doesn't sell the suspense. The film is always religious, and as a result makes it very predictable toward the end of the climax.

Overall, it's the same old thing, with nothing new brought to the table. I would recommend you watch this, but don't waste your time or money on the theaters. Wait until you have a free movie rental and prepare for some disturbing scenes without the leftover guilt of paying an arm and a leg at the end.