The Rite

"The Rite" is an American supernatural horror film about an American seminary student who travels to Italy to take an exorcism course. The turn of events at Rome make him question his self beliefs and embark him on a journey of self fruition and worldly truth.

Cast wise, No complain. Anthony Hopkins seems very natural for his role of Father Lucas, an unorthodox Exorcist who questions his faith after a failed exorcism. His performance,specially the devil possessed climax performance brings in mind the chilling menace he showcased in "Silence Of The Lambs" or "Fracture" etc. Newcomer Colin O'Donoghue plays his role of an upcoming reluctant Priest cum Exorcist with diligence and audacity. His appearance,something of a mixture of dark and white makes him an ideal candidate for Batman's Bruce Wayne role. His performance was not over-the-top nor was it beginner's mess. Rest chips in well in their roles.

"The Rite" strength and weakness both lies in its Storyline. Fact is the storyline deals with the sensitive issues of demonic possession, faith contradictions, exorcism, good versus bad issues in a very delicate ways. Neither the Director injects heroic acts to make it entertaining nor incorporate gore and violence to make an impact. Everything is dealt in a very instinctual manner, rendering the movie being liked by a section of viewers for its authenticity and veracious dealing with its subject material; on the other hand, being distasteful to the other section of viewers for being non entertaining and devoid of gore and violence.

Overall, "The Rite" has something missing and something present. Even though the subject material might be difficult to digest for most viewers, "The Rite" succeeds in capturing the viewer's attention and appreciation.

My Verdict: 7/10

Sometimes you read reviews, but want to see the film so bad, you go, and because your expectations are so low. You enjoy the movie. Reviews seems to be on the good side, with earlier reviews being very bad.

This is a good movie. The acting is good. The directing is good. Unfortunately some people are bothered by the lead in the movie. But that's his job. And he did his job well. He was picked for a good reason. I would only be guessing why. But those/the director/writer who created this movie did a good job. The feel of this film, the length. I had a good time.

I would give this film a decent 7 out of 10. It does not rely on gore to scare you, or major special effects, or 3D. No doubt Anthony Hopkins is great in this film.

I enjoyed it. You get what you paid for. Your not going to get The Exorcist. But in the HORROR film library, if you ask me, 80 - 85% of them all are garbage, or slasher, gore, which I do not consider a "Horror Movie."

Well done everyone involved. It will not win awards. But so far it's a decent film that I will remember as one of the good ones from 2011.

Lastly....anyone talking during the movie...were silenced.

The Rite is a good and very atmospheric exorcism film. Although released clearly not in a good time for this sub-genre, it still holds up well even 10 years later.

The setting is nice, the cinematography is great. It's not a demon-slasher like the more recent pieces of this sub-genre (like The Nun) and it plays more into the psychological aspect (just as the director did with 1408), this is how I like my exorcism films.

But what really makes this work for me, it's the performances. This film is carried by acting, and although most of the cast did a great job, O'Donoghue, Hauer...Hopkins stole the show. You get completely immersed in his performance, every detail, every emotion is projected through it. It is clearly one of his best if not the best roles since The Silence of the Lambs.

The story itself of course isn't perfect, and it has some elements reminiscent of the time, but when Hopkins is on screen, you just completely forget about everything else.

Personally, I think the film is way underrated on IMDB, especially if you compare the rating to more recent entries in this sub-genre.

A strong recommendation.

From what I could see on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus was not too favorable. Yet Roger Ebert thought it was a decent little film. After seeing it, so did I.

The scenario of this film was tailor-made for Anthony Hopkins. Could you imagine a better excuse for scenery-chewing and over-the-top carrying-on, other than demonic possession? So you can't complain about the overacting: the Devil made him do it. The demonically-possessed cannot be expected to turn in a subtle performance.

Hopkins did a perfectly fine job with the set up. And the rest of the cast was equally suitable for what they had to do.

It was good to see Rutger Hauer again, a totally remarkable and outstanding actor. He had a very limited role (maybe five minutes screen time total), enough to make me wish he worked more in current films. I miss him.

I have not read the book this film is supposedly based on. But I would assume that fidelity to it is not a major point. There was a lot of humanity and recognizable human emotions evident in this film, and I saw no indications that the film was intended to convert unbelievers. And it worked up to some very suspenseful situations. Which is just what a thriller should do.

This was another instance of Roman Catholic exorcism. There were seven "orders" or steps in becoming a priest. In that order, from minor to major: porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon and priest. This set of orders supposedly was instituted a millennium ago, or more. In more recent times, the "exorcist" order is virtually ceremonial. The actual current exorcists are specially appointed priests. But it makes you wonder: back in the Early Ages, the next step after reading the Bible at church services (being a "lector") was to cast out demons (being an "exorcist"). Was there a special need way back then? Such that the faithful could not wait for an ordained priest to intervene? We've also seen Protestant exorcism recently, in The Last Exorcism. I have no reason to believe that casting out demons is limited in any way to Roman Catholics. I think the next film begging to be made is a Jewish exorcism. Perhaps there is a Muslim equivalent as well.

I am not saying that you have to go out and see "The Rite" rite now in the cinema. I don't regret seeing it there. But when it becomes available in a form that you can enjoy at home, it would definitely be something worth while to watch.

While I was always waiting to see what happened next and interested in how the good guys would overcome the challenges they faced I felt completely detached from the main character, Michael Kovak. I don't need to like the main character but I still need to connect. Unfortunately, Michael was very emotionally inaccessible and therefore I never really cared for him.

On a positive note, Anthony Hopkins had a very good performance and the little field trips that he took the "doubter" on were some of the best parts of the movie. I loved how Kovak hung on to his doubt even when faced with an example of the possessed knowing the unknowable. The pacing was slow and gradually ratcheted up the tension as it went along. For some this may be boring but I was comfortable with it as it made the events unfolding feel natural instead of forced or rushed.

Overall, it was an alright movie that could have been great but just wasn't.