Anyone that knows me knows I’ve always got time for an exorcism film. The Popes Exorcist had me curious from the start, I have to admit. Starring Hollywood main man Russell Crowe, this one was always going to be reasonable at the very least.
THE PLOT
The movie opens up with Crowe playing a priest (Gabrielle) who has been appointed as the chief exorcist to the Vatican. He visits an Italian family who’s eldest boy has been possessed by a demon (the demon claims to be Satan). The priest manages to cast out the demon and thus the movie proper begins. Meanwhile the movie moves to focus in on young family, mother and two kids that have moved from America to Spain and inherited themselves a giant ex church to live in and restore. The older daughter is kind of an asshole and makes it obvious that she doesn’t want to be there, or help out with the project. The younger brother is Mute, still traumatised by the death of their father.
Russel Crowe as the Popes Exorcist, Gabrielle
For his troubles, Gabrielle the priest is then dragged through the church council for performing an unauthorised exorcism. Really the church doesn’t want the publicity these things can bring.
Back in Spain, It’s not long before the young boy starts to show signs of demonic possession. The local priest is called but unable to help. The big guns, meaning father Gabrielle is then sent from the Vatican to deal with this issue. Can Father Gabrielle dispatch the demonic entity? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie yourself to find that out!
The young child that gets possessed
THE VERDICT
Crowe does a great job with his role of the priest and the rest of the cast are pretty cool too. The acting in the Popes Exorcist is as good as it needs to be. The plot and story line hold up well too. The theology behind the demonic possession is sound, and dialogue convincing. The vulgarities coming out of the possessed kid are reminiscent of the Exorcist, but probably not in the same league. The trick with these kind of movies is to make you believe possession is possible. This movie succeeds at that point. There’s no major holes and the special effects are top notch as one would expect with a movie featuring star power such as this.
Movies such as this will always be held in comparison to the Exorcist. This movie doesn’t top that. To be honest, I can’t see any movie ever topping The Exorcist. At first I didn’t think this movie offer anything particularly revolutionary to the genre. as the movie progresses this takes a few neat turns for the genre. But then does it need to redefine the genre? Either way, it is a solid watch. There are some cool little plot twists and developments and it keeps the viewers interest the whole way through. I can whole heartedly recommend this one to anyone thinking of watching it, be you a fan of the genre or not.
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