The Rite

Directed by Mikael Håfström, The Rite follows disillusioned seminary student Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) as he travels to Rome for a course in performing exorcisms – with the film subsequently (and primarily) detailing Michael’s ongoing exploits alongside his newfound mentor (Anthony Hopkins’ Lucas Trevant). Håfström has infused The Rite with an almost unbearably deliberate pace that only grows more problematic as time progresses, with the film’s lack of momentum ensuring that the viewer is simply unable to work up any interest or sympathy in the central character’s increasingly perilous plight. The movie’s less-than-compelling atmosphere is exacerbated by Håfström’s pervasively somber modus operandi, although, as ultimately becomes clear, it’s O’Donoghue’s aggressively bland performance that stands as The Rite‘s most misguided and misbegotten attribute (ie the actor is devoid of charisma to an astonishing degree). There is, however, little doubt that the movie does improve somewhat in its third act, as Håfström offers up a final exorcism that’s actually quite well done and genuinely suspenseful – with Hopkins’ larger-than-life work during this stretch injecting the proceedings with a short-lived burst of much-needed energy. The strength of the climax is hardly able to compensate for the film’s slow-moving opening hour (which feels as though it could’ve easily been condensed into a swift 15 minutes), and it finally goes without saying that The Rite stands as the weakest of the recent spate of exorcism-themed thrillers.

*1/2 out of ****