THE RITE forges boldly into some interesting theological territories without ever quite making the trip as interesting as the ideas behind it. What begins as an intriguing consideration of how evil can insinuate itself upon even the most innocent of souls becomes, in a breathtakingly short period of time, a wordy symposium. Concepts and theories are set loose, but without a dynamic script, they dont so much soar as hover dispiritedly.
The eponymous rite is the one of exorcism, and in fine dramatic fashion, Michael (Colin ODonoghue) the young man at the center of the story, is a seminarian with, of course, grave doubts about the existence of God. A former mortician with a chilly, troubled relationship with his mortician father (Rutger Hauer), he is on the verge of taking his final vows when doubts about his vocation get the better of him. One suspects that his eye for the ladies, and theirs for him may also have something to do with it.
His letter of resignation is met with resistance by his mentor (Toby Jones). Its also the indirect cause of a fatal traffic accident that leaves the mentor with a limp and an idea. Rather than accepting Michaels resignation, and turning the young mans scholarship for the four years of seminarian training into a 100K loan, he suggests that Michael take exorcism training in Rome. It will, he assures the young man, confirm his faith. Plus, as a former mortician, hes probably not squeamish. The threat of a crushing loan, and the prospect of two months in the Eternal City make the decision simple.
Rather than confirm his faith, Michael finds the course simplistic, though its a multi-media extravaganza taught by a suitably crusty priest (Ciaran Hinds), Michael is unimpressed with the so-called evidence, finding all sorts of non-supernatural explanations. As a result, hes sent to Father Lucas, a Welsh Jesuit and the finest exorcist in Rome, who demonstrates his technique, with a matter-of-factness that includes taking a cell-phone call during the procedure. Even when the victim (Marta Gastoni), a sweet 16-year-old, unmarried and bountifully pregnant, demonstrates a knowledge of the unknowable, a dead giveaway for possession, Michael balks.
Testing the unbeliever is a safe, even trite, way to go with this sort of story, and the script makes it even more of a cliché. Despite unequivocal proof, as in how else would an Italian girl with no knowledge of English quote one of Michaels old flames from the States, the script clings stolidly to the idiom. It doesnt advance the story. it doesnt enhance the story. It only serves to make Michael even more stiff and dull than ODonoghues performance already does. Hopkins, on the other hand, has toned down his tendency to go campy and instead injects a few notes of subtlety, making Fr. Lucas an interesting old codger, mercurial in his moods and charmingly unpredictable even at his most curmudgeonly. He faces down the putative possession of a little boy by proffering a frog with buoyant relish while still taking the situation seriously from a salvation point of view.
As for the demonic possessions, they are depicted with a demure restraint compared to other flicks of this nature. As Fr. Lucas puts it to Michael at one point, as though acknowledging that fact, What did you expect, spinning heads and pea soup? No foul language aside from a slang term for mammary glands. No gratuitous gore. No nudity. No untoward behavior, aside from the activities in which some background frogs indulge during an indoor infestation of same. If it werent for the backstory of how the pregnant girl got that way, this might well have gotten a G rating. Certainly there isnt an overweening sense of tension to up the rating. There are all the right cues, melodic and sound, that indicate an imminent jump-and-scream moment, but few of the cues actually deliver. The eeriness for which the film so earnestly strives resolves itself into a few disconcertingly odd moments. The seat-squirming induced is that of boredom, not terror.
There is something wickedly ironic in the way THE RITE establishes that one of the first signs of demonic possession is apathy. By the end of the first half-hour, it has put the souls of his audience in immortal danger.
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