I’m always a wee bit apprehensive about movies that end with the high note being the fact that there are fourteen practicing exorcists in the United States today.
“The Rite” takes on the flavor of a horror movie, oozing with special effects and haunting atmosphere… people coughing up nails, speaking in tongues, getting trampled by invisible red-eyed donkeys, and reading each other’s minds... however, it wants to be taken seriously, not as a horror movie, but as an exercise in demonic possession. It begins with a young embalmer named Michael (Colin O’Donoghue) who is studying to become a priest. When he expresses doubts with the faith, he is sent to the Vatican to take a course on exorcism- partly because his Father Superior believes this may be just what the doctor ordered to rekindle Michael’s piety, partly because there is apparently a lack of people with strong enough stomachs to handle the nasty business of satanic tenure.
Either way, Michael’s scholarship bucks will roll over into a student loan if he doesn’t scrape together enough sanctity to get himself a degree, so off he goes to Rome where he gets to know Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), an old-timey exorcist treating a pregnant teenager who is supposedly possessed by the devil. At first, it looks as if a Freudian diagnosis would be more suitable than anything once it becomes clear that almost every character’s relationship with their parents is far from flawless. But I doubt even Freud could explain the goings on once the CGI kicks into gear.
Anthony Hopkins is his usual scene-stealing British-grandfather-gone-bad self. He knows what to do with the material he is presented with. In “The Silence of the Lambs,” a legend was created because we could get inside the frightening and devious brain of Hannibal Lecter. In “The Rite,” his character is forgettable and far from scary because he is hidden behind an impenetrable wall of gory special effects. O'Donoghue pales (as most do) when placed alongside Hopkins. Unfortunately, he was no rainbow before Hopkins entered the picture and plays the priest-to-be with about as much charisma as one of the clientele back in his funereal days.
The concept of using fear of the devil to encourage spiritual devotion is not a new one. “The Rite” is based on this premise but doesn’t know if it wants to use it to sanctify or to scare. It tries to do both, but accomplishes neither and somewhere along the line goes from being a promising psychological thriller to a grimly bitter freak show that wants to take its subject matter seriously and doesn’t know how to with any level of subtlety. If the devil is in the details, then there is no sign of him in “The Rite.”
