The Rite (2011)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Admirable film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This one gets a 9 out of 10 only because the characters could have each been more developed. Other than that, what we have here is a mildly scary but very believable story of demonic possession. As I understand it, the Roman Catholic Church believes that demons are Fallen Angels despite everything the Bible and extracanonical texts such as the Book of Enoch have to say on the matter. In those books it is made quite clear that demons are half angel and half man--and in many cases half angel and half animal. Therefore, when we confront demons in our exorcisms, or anywhere else in life (and they are everywhere), we need to always remember that they are only half angel. Now, this isn't to wrongly downplay their power. All we have to do is to look around at the state of the world to see their works of evil designed to destroy humanity. In any case, this film shows the power of Christ over demonic forces. I wish the writer had not used Baal as the evil demon everyone is in conflict with, Baal being a Canaanite god whose name simply meant "Lord" and usually had a qualifier such as the Biblically infamous Baal Peor, or Lord Peor. Anthony Hopkins is, as always, brilliant. I've never seen him play a part that he has not form-fitted to suit him perfectly. Doctor, madman, and now priest, what role could not be suited for this genius? If you like films about exorcisms, this one can't be missed. Enjoy!

I know THE RITE has garnered some decent reviews here on the IMDb, but for the life of me I don't see why. It's an entirely predictable (i.e., Hollywood style) exorcism thriller that wastes the talents of an excellent cast in a story that's both plodding and predictable. We're off to Italy, of course, where a young priest is suffering a crisis of faith (of course) until he hooks up with an experienced exorcist and the pair embark on some gruelling adventures.It sounds intriguing but but really, THE RITE isn't. The usual demonic possession clichés are all here, although they're toned down a bit and not explicit (and having had my fill of demonic nastiness in the likes of the EVIL DEAD remake and others, I'm not upset about that). But everything that happens is so obvious and largely uninteresting that it's impossible to get excited or indeed interested in. The story constantly feels pedestrian instead of innovative.Anthony Hopkins puts in his usual solid performance, although I felt a bit sorry for him with the role he's been given here; it's a far cry from his former glory days. Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, and Rutger Hauer prop up the supporting cast in various roles, but they're given little to do and way too much of the screen time goes to the bland likes of Colin O'Donoghue and Alice Braga.

In this film we see the story of Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue), a seminarian with a wavering faith that goes to the Vatican in order to learn the Catholic ritual of exorcism. In Rome, he meets Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who will face the disease and to test his faith.This is another horror film that deals with the theme of exorcism, a common practice in almost all religions used to fight evil demons and spirits, preventing them from doing harm to other people or their souls. The theme has given masterful films ("The Exorcist" is the most famous) and this is also very good. The scares are many, but what we see in this film is more suspense, tension, and not exactly scares. The devil is something that never takes shape, you never see, except for the famous mule appears in a single scene, which thickens the suspense: if we are afraid of what we see, we have more fear of what we can not see, of what may be anywhere. The biggest negative review of the film are almost romantic scenes of Kovak and Angeline (Alice Braga), a female journalist, because ultimately create the expectation of a novel, a sub-plot that never happens.

An excellent and memorable tale. Anthony Hopkins does not disappoint in this gritty recounting of the burden borne by exorcising priests, he displays a battery of personalities all believable in the way that only Hopkins can be comfortable in so many skins. Colin O'Donoghue portrays the hesitant priest well in that he shows the 'prove it then' attitude of youth coupled with determined maturity by a recently experienced epiphany. Musical score was for the most part done very well for the genre where it is barely noticed by being well blended to suit the visual experience. A pity Ciarán Hinds did not play a larger part, but the films purpose was to focus on Teacher, Student and Evil's part in life.