Review: THE RITE

A woman fidgets in a chair outside a closed bedroom door. Two priests-one grayed, the other wide eyed and youthful-chant. A young woman, stapped to the bedpost, growls in low tones. These are parts of a horror film scene as familiar to moviegoers as a mad scientist’s lab full of test tubes and electrical devices, or a moonlit crypt with vampires emerging from their coffins. That familiarity is mostly due to William Friedkin’s 1973 film version of William Peter Blatty’s THE EXORCIST. Through the years we’ve seen many variations on the basic story of demon possession. There’s also been two sequels and a prequel to that milestone film. Now, the producers of THE RITE want us to revisit this  scene with a couple of twists-the story is ” inspired by true events ” and features Hannibal Lechter himself, Anthony Hopkins, as the veteran exorcist. Can this new tale grab filmgoers by the throat like that nearly 40 year old shocker?

The main focus of THE RITE is actually a young priest in training. Michael Kovac (Colin O’Donoghue) is first seen preparing and cleaning bodies at his father’s Chicago funeral home. He tells a pal that’s he’ll be part of a parochial college scholarship program in order to get a psychology degree. He will drop out before he takes the vows ( he states before flirting with a pretty barmaid ). In his final days at college, he witnesses a horrific traffic accident. The dying cyclist pleads with him to give her the last rites. Seeing this, another priest, decides that Michael should further his studies (or, have his final grades withheld) and study further in Rome. The studies should concentrate on the rituals of exorcism. In he Rome takes a course taught by Father Xavier (Ciaran Hinds) and attended by a reporter, Angeline (Alice Braga). Xavier sends Michael to study with an exorcist living outside the city, Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins). There Micheal observes the eccentric priest dealing with an unwed, pregnant sixteen year old who believes she is possessed by Satan. The young man is skeptical and thinks the young girl may have emotional problems. Lucas is adamant in his belief in demonic possession. Later Michael observes Lucas using some slight of hand trickery in counseling a mother and her young son. This adds to Micheal’s skepticism. Will someone close to him become possessed in order to make Michael a believer?

Unfortunately the filmmakers desire for a PG-13 rating dilutes most of what could be very shocking scenes. The camera will cut away to the priests’ reactions, while the music and sound effects are cranked up to an almost deafening level. They even use the old cliche of a cat jumping up on the opposite side of the window. Some of the scenes of the pregnant demon possessed girl are compelling, but there’s nothing there that Linda Blair’s Reagan didn’t do so many years ago. I guess they thought the side of her bulging belly would add another element of danger. The ads are a bit misleading as Hopkins doesn’t appear till nearly 20 minutes into the film. O’Donoghue’s  dour, sullen Michael is just not compelling enough to carry us through this story. The film makers hint at a possible romance between Michael and Angeline, but there’s few sparks between them. Hopkins get to throw off some funny lines and shout with great fury as we’ve seen him do many times before. He’s so much better than this material.The final big confrontation between the two priests proves to be a big, loud letdown. I’d be very interested to see how close this movie mirrored those “true events”. It all seems like a noisy spook show exploiting a major religious group. Or as the saying goes-a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.  It doesn’t come close to that 73 classic.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars