Review of The Order (2003) by Sean F — 03 Jul 2004

What if one could give redemption of the condemned and take their sins away? The Order ponders this question but it doesn't ponder ever too deeply. This is a movie I personally enjoyed but am knowledgeable enough to realize some of the mistakes it makes. Some of the sins by this movie are forgiveable, while like the premise, others not as much. The biggest problem here is the inability to make a concrete decision on what to do.

The Order starts out a bit slow and stays that way. The story is given through the perspective of a young priest (Heath Ledger.) He is called to the vatican to investigate a strange death to someone working for the church. He begins to discover an underworld of people buying their way into heaven by the use of a Sin Eater.

Why I like this film perhaps more than most, is I liked the group of characters here. The priest has a restrained love for a woman he knows he cannot have because of his work, and a funny co-worker. The movie doesn't touch on them as much as one likes. You never know them, but they at least feel they were thought of and not forgotten like in many horror films.

The film feels overly long despite its length telling us otherwise. Despite the premise, some characters seem to talk about nothing and for quite a while. Other times they simply wonder around that scenes that somehow give no importance despite half decent visuals. Whenever they go under the sewers, it almost serves no importance to the characters or story. On top of that, these scenes are always the ones that begin to lose the coherence.

Like the priest, the movie is conflicted and is unsure of what to do. Sometimes the movie feels like it wants to be a thriller, though its not greatly suspenseful. Other times, it wants to be a horror, but its not especially presented in a scary manner. Most of all, it doesn't study the characters or religious questions it dares to propose. Rather than blending these things, the movie makes a few stabs at these genres and it feels disjointed. The director needed to seriously sit down and better communicate the feelings and thoughts of his and the style its best presented. I was especially dissapointed I didn't get the sense of agony that being a Sin Eater would be like. The burden of a Sin Eater does not feel so heavy. Murderers, rapists, thiefs, the most morally depraved people leave their crimes to him and it does not show him so troubled or especially gaining much. Simply a man who gets to live long.

The Order is an interesting film, despite its unsureness. A great idea was reduced to a below average film that cannot hold attention or engage the moral or religious beliefs that the audience should be considering in such a piece.