Partner and I saw “The Rite” last weekend. Ho hum. It's a melange of every demonic possession / exorcism movie ever made - mostly “The Exorcist,” of course, but bits of many others, up to and including “Paranormal Activity.”
Partner and I were mostly interested in seeing Anthony Hopkins. The previews implied that he gets possessed, so I assumed he would be doing his glassy-eyed flesh-eating lunatic routine, and I will pay seven and a half dollars to see that any day of the week.
We were not disappointed. When the demon takes him, Anthony rolls his eyes and uses his sepulchral Hannibal Lecter voice and slams people around the room.
But he doesn't do enough of it. The movie's pretty dull when he's not flouncing around in full possession mode.
The plot is unsatisfying. The movie is full of unnecessary scenes, and plot detours that lead nowhere, and bizarrely tilted aerial shots. The main character is a young guy who goes to seminary school, but who lacks faith; he goes through Dramatic and Affecting Scenes and Traumatic Flashbacks, and there is a surprise ending which is frankly not much of a surprise. In fact, it ends in exactly the same way as “The Trouble With Angels” with Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell, except that “The Trouble With Angels” is a lot more fun.
And there's a wee problem with the reasoning behind the whole exorcism business. We are told that, if the devil's real, God must be real too. (I’m not sure why this has to be true. Is the opposite also true? Are God and the Devil a boxed set? Can you say “Manicheanism”?) Apparently, if you don't believe in them – both of them – bad things happen. On the other hand, Hopkins explains early in the movie that the Devil prefers that you not believe in him. Later in the movie, however, the Devil (who turns out – aha! - to be real!) does everything but cartwheels and skywriting to establish his own existence.
Doesn't that seem screwy to you?
Eh, well. This is a movie that will be quickly forgotten.
At least the popcorn was okay.
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