The Rite

Review by Eddie Fleisher

THE RITE is based on the true story of a non-believing priest who is sent to the Vatican to become an exorcist. It's there that he encounters unexplainable happenings that eventually lead him to find faith. The premise of the film sounds interesting on paper, but something clearly was lost in the process.

While it presents itself in it's trailers as a horror flick, there's really nothing scary in the movie. It plays more like a psychological thriller, minus the thrills. Most of the cast are unknowns, except for Anthony Hopkins who plays Father Lucas, the Vatican exorcist who mentors the main character. Unfortunately, Hopkins' performance is lukewarm and often uninspired. It gets especially bad towards the end of the film, when he becomes possessed by the devil - it's almost as if he's doing a bad parody of himself as Hannibal Lecter.

The blame for the movie's blandness, could be pinned on the writing. The script was almost laughable at times, and a level of unacceptable cheesiness existed throughout. Also, several people in the row behind me, fell asleep halfway through the film. While, I love Anthony Hopkins, and was hopeful this would be decent, the previews were more entertaining. 1 out of 4 stars.