The Rite is about priest in training Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) who is reluctant to accept the notion of God and Satan. He is sent to Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins), an exorcist, in the hopes that Michael will be scared straight.
The Rite's 2 main leads are fairly convincing and both do pretty great performances here, if only the story of the film weren't so damn stupid. The first part of the film is fairly engaging and interesting as we get some backstory for Michael, but once we reach the 2nd quarter or so of the film it begins to fall apart before our eyes. Michael has to help Father Lucas Exorcise a pregnant possessed girl named Rosaria (Marta Gastini). For me, her possession scenes were the first time when I got a very bad vibe from this film. Compared to other exorcist films, the scenes here were tired, flat and failed to be scary. Marta is a terrible actress and goes over the top with her performace here. She's almost to the level of Looney Toons here with how much she overacts her slim role.
As the film progresses it continues to worsen until it becomes almost unbearably bad during what I suppose the film considers an "epic" climax (HA!!! Don't make me laugh). I'm sure most of you have seen the trailers so you know that Father Lucas gets possessed himself, but that isn't the main focal point of the film. Instead the film mainly focuses on Michael and never touches upon Father Lucas' possession until we are well into the 3rd act. The final scene where Michael has to face off against a possessed Lucas left me itching to get up and leave the theatre (the film almost beat me). Hopkins character becomes a 3rd rate monster that fails to scare or even intimidate, the CGI work viewed here doesn't help either (was it just me or was Hopkins turning into Kermit the Frog).
True, Hopkins and O'Donoghue do try to act their hearts out here, and for the most part they succeed. unfortunately the script is super-lame and; as I already mentioned; the story is stupid and cliched. When the stakes are inevitably raised we should care and want to see if Michael has what it takes to take on the demon...but instead we are left groaning in agony as every audience member checks their watches to see how much longer we have left.
In the end, The Rite is a film that doesn't even attempt to make an effort to be interesting or good in any way, instead choosing to fall back on the oldest, most tired cliches seen in just about every Exorcism film. Skip this one, and instead choose to re-watch The Last Exorcism.
1/5 SOME OLE BULLSHIT
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