The Pope's Exorcist Movie Review
- Apr 13, 2023
- 4 min read
Based on a true story (apparently). The Pope's exorcist tells the story of the Pope's chief exorcist, Father Gabriel Amorth (Russel Crowe), as he helps a family who believes their son is possessed by a demon. Sounds boring right? Well actually...
Story
You would think from that poor synopsis that this film would be a run-of-the-mill Holy horror movie and in some instances you would be right. But, we genuinely came out of this cinema pleasantly surprised on what the movie offered. Essentially, the movie is a horror mystery surrounding the Christian faith and what it is to have sin but the story ended up being a little wacky, which we totally appreciated. We can't lie when we say we weren't expecting anything from this film but to walk out with smiles on our faces. THAT we didn't expect.
Firstly, the movie didn't take itself too seriously with some moments of levity that was greatly valued. This is because a lot of modern horror films are serious and hasn't quite understood that sometimes you need that in a horror movie for it to work. We're not going to say that this film was a masterpiece with its story but it had enough intrigue for use to audibly gasp (with a bit of head tilting). There were moments of tension and some jump scares but unfortunately the film wasn't scary enough and we think this is down to us not caring about the unfortunate family with the possessed boy. We spend more time with Gabriel and are never really drawn to the family, therefore not feeling the high stakes that the movie wants you to think there is. Unfortunately, the "Scary" bits didn't work and left a slightly bad taste in our mouths but the movie does leave it open to a sequel which would be a welcome addition, especially with the corny ending.
On a side note, Sony really wants to market this as based on a true story and want people to believe it. Ain't no one gonna believe everything that happens in this movie.
Visuals
With this being a studio movie, there are obviously going to be advantages in regard to visual effects and camera movements and this movie does have some interesting James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious) inspired moments. You could even say that this movie would nicely fit into The Conjuring universe with some design similarities, especially the demons and creatures portrayed.
Let's talk about that Cinematography and the digital effects. It was good and sometimes very pretty to look at with some flowing, dynamic camera movements that showed all the appropriate action on screen. The film also liked to use some beautiful lighting, especially in the latter parts of the film, giving the movie a gothic feel. The technical aspects of the movie really worked for us and the cinematographer definitely had an eye for shots that look great in a horror movie. Moving on, the special effects for the most part was good but we had some issues with the overall look of some special effects, most notably some body contortion and effects to do with the eyes. We can't understand how a film like 'The Exorcist' (released 50 years ago) can still look believable and tangible but modern exorcism films can feel totally unreal. Throughout, the movie has a glossy filter to it which somehow cheapens the special effects.
Now onto the makeup and practical effects. For the most part, the makeup and practical effects were good but there were some sequences that made the makeup look fake. This resulted in us not enjoying every aspect of the exorcism scenes which take up the majority of the film. On the other hand, the sets were impressive to look at, especially with it being set in a dilapidated church, adding to the overall tone and feel of the movie.
Acting
Surprisingly, this movies saving grace was the academy award winning actor, Russell Crowe playing the aforementioned exorcist, who is easily the best part of this movie. He is charismatic, charming and a quirky character that kept us invested from start to finish. It genuinely seemed like Russell Crowe was enjoying this role, even with the silly Italian accent and his Ferrari moped. This brilliant performance led to some very enjoyable interactions between the possessed boy and the exorcist that was another highlight to the film that questioned the morals of the characters and their affinities. Unfortunately the other actors, especially the family, were wooden in their acting and it never got to the point where we cared for them. This could be a potential directing or script problem but even subtle emotions felt forced, leading to forgettable performances and uninteresting dialogue. The movie somehow abandons the family at times, especially towards the end, for the more interesting Gabriel. This makes us believe that the family were a conduit and an afterthought to more interesting things happening to the exorcist himself.
Editing and Sound Design
There aren't many complaints about the editing as it suited how a horror film of this ilk would be structured. It was very linear but did have some interesting moments of flashbacks that fleshed out characters intentions, especially with the title character. The pace felt good but did have a slight slow burn at the start which quickly quickened when the story was becoming clearer. Sound design was good enough but there could have been more moments where the movie allowed scenes to grow its tension for a bit longer, leading to more powerful scares. Oppositely the movie adopts a cheap scare method of dulling down sounds until its hard to hear and then throwing in a jump scare. Also the fact that it was set in a church could have been reflected in the films soundtrack, instead the movie stitched together scenes with mismatched music that destroyed the tension in some scenes.
Summary
Looking back at the achievements of the movie, we liked how it felt wacky and really appreciated the performance by Russell Crowe as well as some story ideas that felt different enough for us to be intrigued by the mystery. Unfortunately, we were let down by other factors such as some weird looking digital special effects, wooden acting and a soundtrack that never fully realised the setting it was in. Considering these factors together, we enjoyed watching the film and we hope people will give it a chance.
We rate this film: 3.5/5
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