The Pope's Exorcist | Film Review

-

I'm not the biggest fan of 'Exorcist' movies. I enjoy demonic movies that feature exorcisms, but other than the original 'The Exorcist', I've never seen an Exorcist movie that I've really enjoyed. Nevertheless, this one being very recently made/released, somewhat based in truth, and starring a well-known actor, made me think that I might enjoy it more than other similar movies I've seen.

The Vatican's leading exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) investigates the possession of a child and, in the process, discovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep hidden.

So unfortunately, again, I didn't really like this movie.

The first scene is fine but felt a bit overdone. We have seen exorcisms begin movies many times and this one didn't offer anything particularly special or original.

Although the story centres on the priest while most exorcism movies centre on the family being possessed, it still didn't feel very original, or like something the audience has never seen before. And while this issue may stem from the fact that parts of the movie are based on true events, it would have been nice to have a few new ideas here mixed in with the old.

It's not particularly scary.

It doesn't make you care about any of the characters, or the actual story. In fact, other than the Father, I don't think I could name one character.

The film tried to give Father Gabriele a backstory, but the story they gave was very underdeveloped and didn't really help the audience understand the character any better.

Overall, as I've mentioned, I don't particularly love this genre, but I have definitely seen better exorcism movies than this. It was full of things that anyone who has ever seen an exorcism movie has seen before, and didn't give us anything new to engage with.

3/10



Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comment xx

Popular Posts

Venom: The Last Dance | Film Review

-
Image
While on the run, Eddie Brock and Venom (Tom Hardy) are pursued by a dangerous military organisation. But when aliens from Venom's home world come to Earth, the pair have to make a devastating decision that will change their lives forever. I watched the first Venom movie when it came out years ago, didn't really like it that much, and subsequently didn't watch the second. But totally randomly last week I decided to re-watch the first movie, and ended up liking it enough to also watch the second. And as soon as I finished that, I went to the cinema to see this new one. I really liked this film - it was so much better than I thought it was going to be! My favourite thing about this franchise is the relationship between Eddie and Venom, and for me this film was the best version of the characters together. Because, while the comedic moments between the pair are still there, there's a lot more heart in this story than there has been previously, and this is especially evident
Read more

Smile 2 | Film Review

-
Image
After a harrowing accident, popstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is putting her life back together and embarking on a world tour. But after witnessing a suicide, she begins to experience strange occurrences - the strangest of which is a smile that seems to follow her wherever she goes...  Having absolutely loved the first film, I was so excited to see where this next one would take the storyline, and it seemed really promising! But my high expectations were probably why I ended up being so disappointed with the final result. I know that this is definitely an unpopular opinion, but I didn't really like this sequel. However, I did like how it began. It directly connects itself to the first film in a really interesting way, and that was fun to watch. Then it kind of went downhill. For me personally, I didn't love the character of Skye Riley. I didn't really feel connected to her, and it never felt like the film allowed me to get to know her that well. So as much as the events are
Read more

Book Review #138: Kill For Me, Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh

-
Image
  After meeting by chance one evening, Amanda and Wendy realise they have something in common - they are both experiencing grief and want to make the men who destroyed their families pay. Knowing they can never exact the revenge they crave, they come up with an idea: if you kill for me, I'll kill for you... The premise of the book is deliberately vague, but I think the main idea of it is enough to give you a flavour of what the story is about. I have mixed feelings about this book. There's so many things about it that I really loved, but there are also a few things that I could have done without. To start off, the first two chapters are absolutely riveting. I feel like it took no time at all to bond and connect with the characters. Not only are the chapters exciting, but they're also really visceral. You feel like you're living in the scenes with the characters. It would have been amazing if the whole book had stayed like this. The story is told from two points of view,
Read more

Lagaan | 100 Movies Bucket List

-
Image
Of all the movies I watched for the bucket list, this one was without a doubt the hardest to track down. Thankfully I managed to find it but it was looking impossible for a while! I ended up watching a version that didn't include the musical numbers, so I had to listen to the soundtrack separately, which felt really weird. But at the same time, I don't feel like anything was missing from the story by not having the songs in it. I'd never heard of the film before, but an almost 4-hour long movie about cricket wasn't exactly enticing. Thankfully the film is a lot more interesting than it sounds! There's a lot of underlying themes, and even when the scenes are about cricket, the game isn't really the most important thing. It was really fun spending time with these characters and seeing them interact. The one thing I didn't expect from this film was for it to be so uplifting. Even though it's not entirely sunshine and rainbows, you fall into step with this g
Read more

City of God | 100 Movies Bucket List

-
Image
At this point in the bucket list we start getting to the films that are a bit harder to find. I had never heard of this film before seeing it on the list, and I didn't look it up before watching it (beyond searching for a platform to watch it on), so I had no idea what it was about. Sometimes when I'm watching the bucket list movies I write a couple of little notes to remind myself how I felt about it, as I don't give them full reviews. For this one, the only thing I wrote was 'harrowing' and I think that describes it well. The film doesn't shy away from anything troubling or uncomfortable, and it doesn't try to sugar-coat what the characters are going through, or what their lives were like. Apparently it's loosely based on true events and that feels really evident. Because of that, these characters feel extremely authentic. Whether you're familiar with their lives or not, you empathise and sympathise with them because it feels like you're watchi
Read more