Tagline: You can only defeat it when you believe
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue, Alice Braga, Ciaran Hinda
Plot: Michael Kovak travels to Italy to study exorcism all the while battling with his own beliefs and inner demons
My Take: Giving the amount of exorcism movies out there it’s not hard to compare one to another. This movie suffers the same scrutiny…and it shouldn’t. This movie takes a semi believable look at exorcisms. Now im not saying this movie has any credibility when it comes to topic because after all…it is Hollywood. But I don’t think its fare to compare this to the Exorcism and then bash it like some people have…because if you want that movie…then watch it THAT movie.
But enough of those shenanigans…lets get to the movie. Its not as gritty a look at exorcisms as I had hoped for but it does a really good job of maintaining the creepiness that the topic brings...we can thank the actors for that. Each actor plays their part to the letter making every line believable. Sir Anthony Hopkins once again proves to us why he is a legendary actor playing the seen it all Father Lucas Trevant who has a strong faith and knows that the devil is real. Colin O’Donogue portrays the skeptic priest that no longer believes in God after the passing of his mother. However there were a couple scenes where you could have entered a priest and a child joke. The pacing of the movie was right on time…I didn’t find myself bored at all during the film. The mix of dialogue and action was very well proportioned.
The conflict of faith; believing to non believing. If there is devil then there has to be a god is really well done between the arguments upheld by Kovak and Father Lucas. The freight is upheld by the occasional jump at you scares. By the real creepiness stems from the victims of possession and of course the final battle between good vs evil. I enjoyed not seeing silly contorted bodies you see in other “Hollywood possessions” and a lack of CGI. The make up effects of the possessed is really good. With the darkness around the eyes…I honestly felt like that is way it should look. Not the decaying skin and lacerations. However I did find it odd listening to devil speak gibberish instead of the generic curse words and swears. But then again I often felt the devil would be a slick man and not need to swear so much. And the final conflict lead up to my expectations…actually it went beyond what I was expecting I felt myself wishing I could fight the devil hand to hand.
Oddest things over
heard leaving the theater: “This movie has officially made me believe in god again”
“I really need to start going back to church”
Random moment
that made me chuckle: When Hopkins finally gets possessed and Smacks a little girl...really unexpected…and slightly comical
Final Thought: Giving the fact that it was a rated PG-13 like a lot of horror movies are (obviously because they can draw a larger crowd and make more money) it still maintained a really good story some creepy moments. The devil speaking in what seemed like nursery rhymes still seemed slightly odd BUT it is Anthony Hopkins speaking them which makes it creepy on its own…So by all means grab your holy water and crouton ‘o’ christs and see it theaters, on demand, or red box it when it comes either way this is one I wouldn’t recommend missing.
I give it 4 out 5 cherry cheese Danishes
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