Sadly, “The Pope’s Exorcist” is a watchable however far-from-special rehash of exorcism film cliches, with detours right into a Vatican conspiracy plot that has been in comparison with Dan Brown’s novels however half-assedly connects with church atrocities and scandals. The punchline is so convoluted and ridiculous that it appears to let the Church off the hook for the Inquisition and the pedophilia cover-up by saying, in essence, “The satan made them do it.”
Crowe makes the film price seeing. He performs Amorth as a prideful cut-up, greeting vile taunts with a deadpan smirk and snappy solutions. When the demon growls that he is Amorth’s worst nightmare, Amorth replies, “My worst nightmare is France profitable the World Cup.” Crowe performs the character’s dry, needling wit good. He is much more interesting when he lets the viewers see insecurities that the priest retains hidden. When Father Esquibel tells Amorth that he is learn his articles about possession in magazines, Amorth mentions that he writes books, too, then softly provides, “The books are good.” When Avery cuts to touring pictures of Amorth puttering on highways and nation roads on his scooter, the frock, collar, fedora, and sun shades make the character iconic: coolly ridiculous, ridiculously cool.
One can think about rewatching bits and items of the film simply to savor Crowe’s efficiency and his co-stars’ awed responses to it. Crowe has been so good for thus lengthy that he glides via this function as if he has nothing to show (regardless that the character does). He goofs round and provides shocking little gestures and reactions to enliven a scene. However he by no means goes up to now that he appears to be making enjoyable of the film. When Amorth discloses his personal religious torment in a sequence of flashbacks, Crowe performs it straight, struggling and writhing as if he is imagining that he is in an Ingmar Bergman film. He appears to be at roughly the identical profession level that Paul Newman arrived at within the early Seventies when his hair went silver and he misplaced most of his vainness. He is not struggling for his artwork anymore. Even when a scene is critical, he is having enjoyable.
Now taking part in in theaters.