Director: Julius Avery
Genre: Horror/
Thriller
Runtime: 103
minutes
Year:
2023
Starring: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alexandra Essoe, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney,
Laurel Marsden
Description: Follow
Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe), the Vatican’s leading exorcist, as he
investigates the possession of a child and uncover a conspiracy the Vatican has
tried to keep secret.
Review: Gabriele Amorth died in 2016 and left behind several books in which he
wrote at length about his encounters with possessed people. The priest claims
to have exorcised 30,000 demons, but most of the cases involved victims with
mental problems. In two percent of the cases, he actually saw an inhabitant of
hell control a human being. “The Pope’s Exorcist” is about such an encounter, but
soon throws truth into the trash.
Russell Crowe once starred
in Oscar-winning films, and “The Pope’s Exorcist” certainly doesn’t belong in
that list. Despite this not being one of his better movies, Crowe does his best
to give Garbiele Amorth a warm look, with a raw edge. For example, he drinks
alcohol before every exorcism and makes lame jokes, because demons hate them. Director
Julius Avery probably also saw the fun in having the Crowe’s Amorth ride around
on a Vespa. That was my highlight of the film anyway.
“The Pope’s Exorcist” has
little subtlety and transforms in the second half not an outright bad horror
movie. The Spanish home of the American family is an overtly haunted house, and
the demon who takes over the boy has clearly seen “The Exorcist”. All the clichés
pass by and even his confrontations with Amorth feel stale. At the same time,
there is a lot surrounding a dark secret of the Vatican, which is definitely
the low point of this film, because it feels unnecessary.
Enjoyable, yet pretty bad.
Rating: 2/ 5
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten