The Rite (2011)
Watched September, 2011
The young priest in training who views demon possession as a skeptic, Michael Kovak (played by Colin O’Donoghue) heads to the Vatican for training in exorcism, runs into the real deal by working with Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) and changes his mind on the whole thing. That is about as a short as I can sum it up without heading into spoilers.
I felt through the whole movie that the outcome was predictable; I was just watching to see how we would get there. I watched it with my two oldest sons and I think we all felt it had its moments but in the end was too typical on the plot line. They certainly did their best to scare us along the way. O’Donoghue was not a strong enough lead, perhaps as suggested by Hopkins getting most of the face time on the trailer. Hopkins is a great actor who, apart from doing well in the possessed scenes, sort of dialed the rest of the film. And that is coming from a huge Hopkins fan.
The whole demonic thing seems to be coming back. Not sure why. The Exorcist was/is easily one of the most disturbing movies I have watched, ever. When they say, “based in part on a true story” it seems to take things up a notch, but I have never jumped on that wagon. It is either true to reality or not; whether it actually happened or simply “might have” is not relevant to me. Overall, I would not want folks to waste time on this movie unless they are intrigued by the suspenseful effects the film employs. You could miss it without being worse off.
