User reviews

"The Confessor" AKA "The Good Shepherd" is a well-acted drama.

The plot: Father Daniel Clemens (Slater) has uncovered a murder mystery involving other priests and corruption in his church. Can he uncover the truth?

Christian Slater puts in a good performance as usual. Parker also holds her own. The mystery is a little uneven and the ending is weak, but overall the movie is worth seeing. It goes in too many directions. The director made another movie called "Gone Dark" which is a hidden gem.

In the end: "The Confessor" is decent little mystery if you don't take it too seriously.

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This film deals with a priest by the name of Daniel Clemens, (Chistian Slater) who is not very well equipped to be a parish priest and is more like a financial business man who can raise funds for the church and deals only with the higher ups in the church. There is a murder and a priest is involved and he is accused of the crime, Daniel is summoned to help this priest out and find out exactly what went on with this murdered man, who was considered a whore. There are many deep dark secrets that are uncovered as Daniel plays the role as a detective. Daniel even gets the help from his former girl friend, Madeline Finney, (Molly Parker) who is a journalist and works at a TV station. Daniel has to stay over night a Madeline's apartment and he accidentally sees her nude taking a shower. There are all kinds of situations concerning dope and plenty of murders and it is not easy to try and figure out just who is doing all these killings.

Father Daniel Clemens (Christian Slater) does money solicitation and financial work for the church. He's called in for admiror Father Andrews who was arrested for murder. Andrews can't prove his innocence due to the seal of confession. Clemens has his friend McCaran (Stephen Rea). Cardinal Ledesna (Gordon Pinsent) orders Clemens to handle the case. He struggles to do PR and investigate with the help of reporter Madeline Finney (Molly Parker) with whom he has a past.

This is a Canadian production that pulled in some bigger actors. Stephen Rea is woefully underserved. It's obvious what they're setting him up for but it's a waste of a great actor. As a mystery, it doesn't lay out the clues and twists that well. The filmmaking is plain. It needs a better filmmaker to inject real intensity and brooding mood. Neither writer nor director seem to have gone on to do much else. The church's internal battle needs something bigger and more ominous. The forbidden love between Daniel and Madeline has no heat and is awkward when the heat is turned up. There are elements of a better film but this puts it together like a movie of the week. It's only when Stephen Rea, Slater, and Parker join forces do the movie starts pulling together.

The story in itself was quite interesting, but I ran into something that happens too often. So many times when I know more than average about the situation/background of the story of a movie, I see loads of mistakes. Same here. I'm a catholic and found the mistakes regarding a.o. the Mass annoying. It is possible to say 'let us pray' directly after sermon (in week Masses), but then the priest won't continue to the creed, as he did in the movie (and as happens on Sundays and holidays). And the creed is said together, not only by the priest. Later on, things got worse. The priest entered the church, kneeled, and kissed the altar (all of this is indeed what happens in the beginning of Mass) and then ... he stepped away from the altar (huh?) and continued with 'let us pray' and the our father! LOL, he just skipped 2/3rd of the Mass ;-) And also the our father is prayed aloud by the entire congregation. There was much more to comment on, but 'nuf said about this topic: they should have done their research more thoroughly. Asking some catholics, going to Mass a few times themselves, or just looking in Wikipedia would have done the trick.

Webb's film concerning a priest (Slater) who believes in a young priest who is accused of murder and claims he is innocent. Molly Parker is good as his former love interest/journalist who helps him out. The film is not amazing, it was actually quite lame in some of its cinematic moments, and felt so B-movie-ish. It was entertaining at times, but just too slow and didn't have the directorial flare that a good B movie should have or the quality of an A-movie. This was nowhere near as good as stuff like The Deal (also starring Slater) or even End Game (starring Cuba GOoding Jr.)... the best in this kind of genre is THe Sentinel which was a very good film despite it having a TV-movie like feel to it. THe Confessor is not the worst film, but its a bit worse than your average film so skip it unless you have a lot of time on your hands. IMDb Rating: 5.0, my rating: 6/10

I am not a big Christian Slater fan, but I think he did a good job with this effort. He plays a hip, high-profile priest, who knows how to wheel and deal like a Wall-Street veteran. He becomes involved in a parish murder mystery that is entertaining, and most importantly, not predictable. There are a few problems with the film, but we overlook them because it is an interesting premise. Plot done before by a few films; most notably "I Confess" with Montgomery Cliff. A woman is murdered and a parish priest is charged with her murder. Slater takes it from there, trying to unravel the mystery. Not bad.

This movie has a glacial pace. Nothing much happens until the final few minutes of the film for a chase.

The movie is grim, bleak, gritty, dirty, shopworn, colourless. The protagonists are not very appealing. Even Christian Slater plays a sort of car salesman type personality who gradually grows some backbone.

The movie depicts the tedium, hierarchy and obsession with ecclesiastical trivia that makes up a priest's life. The church is corrupt, concerned only with its image.

Everybody in the movie would have been better off without the church. Their fascination with it derailed their lives.

Molly Parker plays the lead female. She reminds me a bit of Olive Oyl with her unnaturally lanky body.

Nancy Beatty plays a sort of Dickensian arch villain. She is about the only colourful character in the film.

Well acted piece that is driven by dialogue, as opposed to action. The other reviews miss the point. Behind the loosely constructed mystery lie the question of what it means to lead a worthwhile life. An urbane priest is confronted with the resolve of another priest to preserve to the death the penitent's relationship with god in the confessional. He is a true believer and soldier of Christ.

The urbane priest's deep Christian convictions slowly drag him back to his original priestly calling. This journey is made in a very modern believable way, simply and as a matter of fact

Christian Slater's understated acting is magnificent. Each line delivered realistically while accentuating the emotion behind each line.

A low budget gem of a movie.

For a non-Canadian viewer,the film might seem weird .Their priests do not look like those of their countries,or maybe this is the movie which makes them look like more like yuppies than men of God.It takes a lot of imagination to believe that Christian Slater,Stephen Rea and even poor Von Flores are clergymen.

The movie is actually a whodunit where Slater -who began his career in a monastery (remember "the name of the rose"?)puts on his little act of Hercule Poirot without a mustache .Best performance ,IMHO,comes from Nancy Beatty as the sinister Mrs Gallagher:she particularly shines in the scene where she blames the clergy for their life in luxury.

Like this ...try this.....

Primal fear (Gregory Hoblit) -much better than "shepherd"!-

Christian Slater stars as Father Clemens in "The Confessor," also known as "The Good Shepherd" from 2004. The film also stars Molly Parker, who plays a journalist and ex-girlfriend of Father Clemens.

Daniel Clemens mostly deals with raising funds for the church, so he's not your typical parish priest. When there is a murder of a male prostitute, and a priest named Andrews is accused, Daniel is brought in.

Daniel first has to investigate how Andrews was involved with the victim, and also how Andrews is Andrews involved with him? And how is Andrews involved in a movement called Equality, which the church has forbidden? The film doesn't come out and say it's a gay group which has broken away from the Church yet has mass, etc., but that's what it was.

Andrews ultimately commits suicide, and the Cardinal asks that Clemens release a statement and end his involvement. Clemens doesn't believe it was suicide, and continues investigating, even taking over Andrews' parish duties.

Being Catholic myself, I had a few issues with the film. As much of an SOB as the Cardinal was, I can't believe he would accept that a man who refused to break the seal of confession would turn around and kill himself. The Church is very strong in its feelings about suicide; you cannot be buried on sacred ground. and it's a ticket to a very hot place.

The other thing is small but for some reason bothered me. Father Clemens barreled down the main aisle of the church more than once but never genuflected when he got to the altar.

Slater's approach to the role was a good one - very unpriestly. He was a no-nonsense man who happened to wear a collar, whereas the character of Father Andrews was obviously devout and "priestly." Both exist, and it was good to show that.

The film itself was okay and the mystery decent. The seal of confession has been a story device for years.

Uneventful Opening.

+1 Star For the Priest who upholds the honor and integrity of the confessional despite having uh...how shall i say......'flaws' ?

Okay this movie really didn't have a lot of umph to it at all..

The ending was very quick and really didn't add anything.

-1 Star really for the whole 2nd half of the movie.

5/10 is probably being generous....

An interesting story of the sanctity of the catholic church confessional and it's rule of absolute secrecy well acted by Christian Slater and Molly Parker.

No pun intended - now we only need to find out who I am talking about (also singular or plural)? What do you reckon and do you even care? This will be quite the interesting question throughout ... just have faith (come on, I had to). Something our main character may or may not have. Christian Slater in one of the better low budget efforts he had to do I reckon (everyone needs money) ... stellar cast too.

The movie actually could have been from the 90s - it has that feeling to it. The script actually might be from that time (and mind set). I would argue that you may know or guess the truth way before it is being revealed ... but does it really matter, if you have a good time along the way? Well you know what I mean by that ... hopefully.

I'm a fan of Christian Slater and was pleasantly surprised to find this movie to be entertaining, fast-moving, and incredibly suspenseful. At the beginning the plot seems boring and contrived, but the great directing, decent acting, and wonderful cinematography brings this movie into "I was very entertained" level. I really liked the London location with the Winter setting, as well as the other on location settings that made the film more authentic. There were some parts that seemed very unbelievable, but it didn't distract from the quality of the film. Also, would of liked to see more romance between Daniel and the reporter, his former lover/girlfriend. Overall great movie to see on a rainy day or weeknight.

Pretty good mystery about a favored priest who was a good find-raiser and gets entangled in murder investigations. Good action in the climax with a twist in the ending.

The priest here is actually not a good priest, he was practically ordained just because he was good at soliciting money for the church and thus found useful and given some trust, but as a priest he gets mixed up with all kinds of unexpected human problems. Another priest is accused of murder, he was a really good priest, and the man murdered was a young homosexual. This priest refuses to defend himself or testify to the truth of the crime because of the seal of confession, and rather than breaking that seal he kills himself. Our priest suspects something deeper behind it and starts digging and finally arrives at the conclusion that it was not suicide but murder. His bishop disapproves of his research and discards him, but fortunately he has an old friend who is a journalist who will not dodge the truth. It's actually an interesting Catholic thriller, there are no mumbo-jumbo or supernatural elements here, but everything is clinically logical and realistic. The intrigue is cleverly constructed, Christian Slater, Stephen Rea and Molly Parker sustain the thriller well, so it is not to be discarded or neglected.