anthony hopkins is always a delight to watch, and unfortunately for colin donoghue i think 75% of his attractiveness resides in his accent and beard

The Rite belongs to that family of possession and exorcism films that seem to arrive with the manual already in hand: a priest with doubts, faith put to the test, the Vatican, disturbing cases, solemn lines and a demonic threat that should be scarier than it finally is. It is not a disaster, but it is not a particularly memorable film either. It is watchable enough, although at times it feels heavier than it should. The film has one clear virtue: Anthony Hopkins. Even when the material is not worthy of him, he manages to give it presence, ambiguity and a little unease. His character works because Hopkins knows how to move between calm, irony, authority and darkness. Every time he appears, the film improves. The problem is that not even an actor like him can turn such a familiar story into something truly new. The atmosphere also helps. Rome, the Vatican, the dark spaces, the religious interiors and a certain visual seriousness give The Rite a respectable mood. It is not loud or excessively dependent on cheap effects, and that is welcome. It tries to treat the subject with gravity, without turning every scene into a jump-scare show. But that same gravity eventually works against it, because for long stretches the film becomes too solemn, too slow and too convinced that its subject alone is enough to impress. The main problem is that it is not very scary. It has a few decent scenes, some uncomfortable moments and the occasional strong image, but it lacks real tension. In exorcism cinema, the shadow of The Exorcist is always there, and here that comparison weighs heavily. The Rite wants to be serious, atmospheric and spiritual, but it often remains in a middle zone: not disturbing enough as horror, and not deep enough as a drama about faith. There is also something predictable about the protagonist’s journey. His doubts, resistance and evolution are told in a way that feels too orderly. The film seems more concerned with moving him from one moral point to another than with making him live through a truly unsettling experience. And when a story about the devil becomes more didactic than frightening, something is not working. Even so, The Rite is not unbearable. It is competently made, well acted and visually decent. For an afternoon of religious horror without great expectations, it does its job. But it is far from the great possession films. It lacks intensity, it lacks risk and it has too much solemnity. Hopkins deserves the attention; the film, much less so.

The movie was scary enough. It makes us believe in both. Great!

If you like exorcism movies you'll like this one. Ofcourse it doesn't offer anything truly new and original but how could it. Saying this is a boring rehash of other movies is the same as stating all slashers and action movies are.... Which isn't wrong ofcourse, but there's nothing wrong in being so. Hopkins as always is great, although very Hopkins and all of his scenes are delightful (especially the ones where [spoiler] he become the demon[/spoiler]). I enjoyed it but I'm a sucker for Demonic/Satanic movies and there are much worse movies out there than this one.

Was good, better than the others talked about IMO.