The Rite

Rating:**

Movie Review: The Rite Yet another Hollywood exorcism film,filled with all the ingredients we are so familiar with : a possessed young woman suffused with sufficient beauty,a handsome young man filled with doubt,and an older man who is at the centre of this troubled universe. Plus thenm obligatory child who channels both god and devil at the same time,telling us that,yes,both exist.

We know,we know. Which is why ‘The Rite’ doesn’t feel as new as it should,despite its very today dialogue : there’s a smattering of ‘dudes’ in there,and did I miss an ‘awesome’? Michael ( O Donoghue) is a priest-in-the-making sent out to Rome to train in the arcane practice of exorcism. Father Lucas ( Hopkins) is the older,much more experienced man of god who goes about challenging the devil,and throwing its various guises out of human bodies who’ve been made hosts. The clash between the man of faith,and the man who’s having a hard time finding his own moral centre,is at the heart of ‘The Rite’ which gives us a few moments of real chills,but not enough to keep us riveted.

What feels fresh is a couple of strands : a pretty intern ( Braga) at the seminary turns out to be a journalist tracking exorcism and the rites that go with it. She’s the one,naturally,that Michael turns to in time of stress. Flashes of Michael’s troubled childhood– his authoritarian father and his dead mother– also provide a few shivers. What makes this film old is Anthony Hopkins and his laboured transformation into a tortured being,who needs to be tied up hand and foot,there to snarl and growl.We’ve seen this Hopkins before,better done in his man-eating Hannibal Lecter role : that cannibal was scarily credible; this one is just make up

shubhragupta@expressindia.com