Review of The Rite (2011) by Elliot N — 21 Jun 2011

The release of possibly the scariest and one of the greatest movies of all time in 1973 resulted in an increase of films based on demonic possession. Even if the Exorcist may not be the first, it is certainly the most famous. The 1973 classic was followed by two sequels and two prequels none of them matching the sheer terror and quality of the terrifying original. There have been various attempts to even touch The Exorcist is terms of pure horror but none have been successful. With The Rite this trend continues.

Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue) attempts to avoid a career working in a morgue by planning to enter a seminary school and abdicate his vows upon the courses completion, which in turn will give him a free degree (sneaky sneaky). However when Father Matthew (Toby Jones) informs him that if he does leave now a $100,000 student loan will be levied upon him unless he agrees to go to Rome and study to become an Exorcist. Sceptical and with a lack of faith Michael Kovak reluctantly accepts.

Like I have already mentioned since The Exorcists release in 1973 plenty of sequels, prequels and similar films have been produced some good, some bad, The Rite sits right in the middle, it's not a terrible film but it's not a good one either. More recent films based on demonic possession include The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Last Exorcism, The Rite is on par with these two supernatural chillers and in some cases The Rite is the better than the two. However the former two are certainly scarier. That's one of the major problems with The Rite, it's just is not scary. Granted The Exorcism sequences are quite creepy but they are hugely hindered by the age fifteen certificate, so the exorcism scenes do not come off as scary, convincing and brutal as they should have been. The Rite relies too much on the manufactured, overused jump scare rather than any actual physiological tension that The Exorcist so perfectly achieved. It may seem unfair to compare The Rite to The Exorcist but it is inevitable, like comparing a remake to the original.

Despite The Rite not being particularly scary, it does have a rather surprising and effective atmosphere and eerie cinematography; in fact Rome is gloriously shot, full of landmarks that anyone with any knowledge of Rome would surely recognize. However this tension is only sustained for brief moments at a time. Taking this all into account, for me to say that The Rite was not an enjoyable experience would be a lie. Not once was there a slow, dull moment, the Rite is indeed an intriguing and enjoyable film or maybe I am just a sucker for films about demonic possession. The Rite claims that the story is based on actual events but of course that is a load of nonsense. Even for a movie based on Exorcisms the film can, occasionally, be rather preposterous. The first instance is the accident during the first act, it's a bit of a mess as I refuse to believe that someone would trip over and cause an accident like that. The second moment of silliness is when Father Lucas (Hopkins) answers his mobile phone during an exorcism and no I am not making that up. I struggle to decide whether this is serious look at possession or not, with jokes about ringing mobile phones I have my doubts.

The Rite of course is in debt to The Exorcist, the word 'rip off' has been used to describe the film. The Rite even has a great reference, in its rather melodramatic script, to the classic chillier with a brilliant line spoken by the insanely superb Anthony Hopkins 'what were you expecting spinning heads, pea soup?' Of course The Rite has the usual tricks, namely the victim in odd and very uncomfortable positions, cracking bones and demonic voices. However unlike The Exorcist, which balanced the philosophical and psychological aspects of possession with the religious aspects, the Rite does no such thing. In fact The Rite just glosses over the philosophical and psychological aspects of possession and focuses on the religious aspects. Illnesses like schizophrenia are only mentioned and there is no interesting debate between priest and sceptic over the correct method of treatment. The debate between the two is lazily done. Furthermore Alice Braga's role as a journalist who is writing a paper on exorcism ends in a dead end as the role is underdeveloped and thus pointless, adding nothing to the story.

Colin O'Donoghue's performance in the main role is rather unconvincing as he never fully displays that he is man wrestling with his own faith and guilt. Never did O'Donoghue ever convincingly display the different emotions that the character experienced, fear, guilt, shock, grief. His relationship with his father is hardly touched upon. It's a rather ineffective performance. However perhaps his performance seems far more subdued than it actually is due the always sensational Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins' performance heightens the quality of proceedings considerably; Hopkins alone is the very reason why The Rite is an enjoyable watch. On full scenery chewing mode he is absolute delight to watch. He upstages his fellow co star with absolute ease and all on his own saves The Rite from being an utter disaster. It would take a great deal to match his performance in Silence of the Lambs but his performance in The Rite comes closer than he has done in years.

Flawed but fun The Rite is a forgettable, unremarkable and rather ineffective, on the scare front, but an enjoyable film nonetheless made watchable by the superb Anthony Hopkins. While it is heavily flawed, I can't say I did not enjoy it.

3/5.