The Rite
The Rite
PG-13 | 28 January 2011 (USA)
The Rite Trailers

Seminary student Michael Kovak reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican. While he’s in Rome, Michael meets an unorthodox priest who introduces him to the darker side of his faith, uncovering the devil’s reach even to one of the holiest places on Earth.

Reviews
TinsHeadline

Touches You

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Konterr

Brilliant and touching

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BelSports

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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Guillelmina

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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pulga_negra

This is an excellent terror movie. It is not too deep but deep enough to provoke scares, thoughts and entertaining reactions. Anthony Hopkins stars as an aloof and eccentric exorcist, in Catholic Rome. He is sent a confused student for shadowing, who ends up having to help the exorcist who becomes possessed. It is all better than it sounds, with some great acting, scenery, scares, tension and possessions. This film will appeal more to, and impress, viewers open to this kind of religious thriller but here lies a decent drama with several scary and tense moments.

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Claire Timothy

If you've chosen to watch "The Rite," I'm guessing it is because you are a fan of demonic activity and watching morticians at work. If you are not fond of these things or enjoy less than scary horror films, then I cannot stress strongly enough to stay away from "The Rite."My friends and I diligently searched Netflix for horror movies that weren't rated R. At the time, we had no idea that choosing "The Rite" would cause us such boredom that night. It took the longest time to give the background on the story. We found ourselves paying no attention to the movie, and only to our phones. The movie created a very awkward environment as it progressed; I knew that I wanted to start another, but I was too scared that I would let down my friends. When it finished, we all admitted that "The Rite" was definitely not something we'd want to watch again.Never did any of us scream in terror. At the "tense" scenes, I cringed with embarrassment. The movie was not scary, but it most certainly was disturbing. I found myself either bored to death or wanting to skip scenes that made me feel uncomfortable. The film answers the question, "What can the writers possibly do to make an interesting story dull and mundane?" We longed for an exciting ending, but it never came. Scenes began to meld together, and many random elements came into play. From the abounding amount of stray kittens to a possessed donkey, I became more confused. At the end, some things were explained, but many of my questioned remained unanswered. Multiple events occurred without a real reason, and the film could have been much shorter if the writers considered if what they were writing actually served a purpose. In closing, I would like to mention the lack of emotion. In the character's time of peril, I did not feel any real want for him to live. Throughout the movie, the protagonist was portrayed as cold and emotionless. Yes, he seemed fairly distressed in a few scenes, but it did not make me feel sorry for him- and I could tell that none of it was real sadness. In a disappointing movie, the characters were most likely the most disappointing thing about it.

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Leofwine_draca

I know THE RITE has garnered some decent reviews here on the IMDb, but for the life of me I don't see why. It's an entirely predictable (i.e., Hollywood style) exorcism thriller that wastes the talents of an excellent cast in a story that's both plodding and predictable. We're off to Italy, of course, where a young priest is suffering a crisis of faith (of course) until he hooks up with an experienced exorcist and the pair embark on some gruelling adventures.It sounds intriguing but but really, THE RITE isn't. The usual demonic possession clichés are all here, although they're toned down a bit and not explicit (and having had my fill of demonic nastiness in the likes of the EVIL DEAD remake and others, I'm not upset about that). But everything that happens is so obvious and largely uninteresting that it's impossible to get excited or indeed interested in. The story constantly feels pedestrian instead of innovative.Anthony Hopkins puts in his usual solid performance, although I felt a bit sorry for him with the role he's been given here; it's a far cry from his former glory days. Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, and Rutger Hauer prop up the supporting cast in various roles, but they're given little to do and way too much of the screen time goes to the bland likes of Colin O'Donoghue and Alice Braga.

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Filipe Neto

In this film we see the story of Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue), a seminarian with a wavering faith that goes to the Vatican in order to learn the Catholic ritual of exorcism. In Rome, he meets Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who will face the disease and to test his faith.This is another horror film that deals with the theme of exorcism, a common practice in almost all religions used to fight evil demons and spirits, preventing them from doing harm to other people or their souls. The theme has given masterful films ("The Exorcist" is the most famous) and this is also very good. The scares are many, but what we see in this film is more suspense, tension, and not exactly scares. The devil is something that never takes shape, you never see, except for the famous mule appears in a single scene, which thickens the suspense: if we are afraid of what we see, we have more fear of what we can not see, of what may be anywhere. The biggest negative review of the film are almost romantic scenes of Kovak and Angeline (Alice Braga), a female journalist, because ultimately create the expectation of a novel, a sub-plot that never happens.

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