The Setup - Michael Kovak is a disillusioned mortician who uses the priesthood as a means of escape from his current lot in life. As he is about to take his final vows he suffers a crisis of faith. Faced with the possibility of having to repay his seminary tuition if he fails to become a priest, he accepts an offer to travel to Rome to study the rites of exorcism and reexamine his faith. He witnesses events that make him question not only his beliefs, but his own sanity.
The Review - What the fuck, Hollywood? Really? Is another shitty ripoff of The Exorcist the best you can do? The Rite is a pale imitation at best.
The film starts off well with the premise of a priest to be in a dilemma of faith and his rational explanations of evil. It quickly falls apart when the "horror" aspect is introduced. It relies heavily on lame"gotcha" scares. The movie fails miserably in trying to conjure any real fear. There are a few moments that might make you examine your own faith, but nothing that anyone with any kind of belief in divinity hasn't already questioned. The filmmakers missed a great opportunity to exploit the primal fear of the unknown in all of us.
The only real shining point in this movie is Anthony Hopkins. His turn as a grizzled exorcist is entertaining and worth watching. Although when he gets possessed it's like someone slapped a priest collar on Hannibal Lector and gave him a bunch of crack.
I'll give The Rite two Flaming Midgets, mostly because I'm too lazy to make a one and half image.
