Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“Follow Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s leading exorcist, as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.” Director: Julius AveryWriters: Michael […]
“Follow Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s leading exorcist, as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.”
Director: Julius Avery
Writers: Michael Petroni, Evan Spiliotopoulos, R. Dean McCreary
Staring: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alexandra Essoe, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Laurel Marsden
Release Date: April 14, 2023
IMDB
Am I a twisted puppy for finding pleasure in a horror movie comfort watch? Maybe. Regardless, The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) fits my personal puzzle. You put Russell Crowe on a poster and you have my attention. You make an exorcism the movie’s main focus, and you have more than just curiosity. The Pope’s Exorcist is not going to become anyone’s favorite movie of all time, but it will be recycled on streaming services for times to come.
Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) is a joke-throwing practical priest who doesn’t enjoy obeying the normal rules of the church. After an incident in a small village gets him in some hot water, Father Amorth is sent on a new mission of possible demonic possession in Spain.
Julia (Alexandra Essoe) is a single mother who is trying to corral her two kids while funding the refurbishment of a church that was left to her, Amy (Laurel Marsden) is a rebellious teen who is not enthused about being uprooted, but the major problem becomes little boy Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney).
Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) is the resident priest at the church Julia is the new owner of. When Henry begins to act strangely, Esquibel becomes overwhelmed and is ecstatic when Father Amorth arrives to theoretically save the day. The pair of priests have various attempts at saving Henry’s life, but all attempts fail.
The Pope’s Exorcist shifts from a traditional horror movie to more of a mystery when the history of this Spanish church site begins to be unveiled. It turns out that the Catholic Church is not a good place and this church is a focal point for the institution’s faults. The founder of the Spanish Inquisition was actually an exorcist who was possessed by the demon who currently holds Henry. This possessed once-holy-man went back to the Vatican and infiltrated the church and began the most deadly crusade the church has ever had. Naturally the church didn’t want this rumor to spread, so they attempted to bury it at this very church.
Armoth has unearthed this history and the stakes are raised for the grant finale. After a sequence where Amorth and Esquibel share their deepest regrets, the pair of religious saviors take on their enemy knowing they must step past their known limits in order to stop the demon from infiltrating the world at large once again.
I enjoy the phrase vibe connoisseur and there is a sure fire winner of this honor in The Pope’s Exorcist. Russell Crowe is having a fucking blast in this movie. He is speaking different languages, solving century old riddles, and discovering hidden secrets about the church he serves. The man is basically playing religious Batman.
Now Crowe’s performance is not award worthy by any means, but it reminds me of when comedians team-up in a movie together and they just share a smile that is more than a work visage. Crowe has not been in a critically well-received movie in a very long time, and that may be in large part to the fact that he doesn’t want to be a secondary character.
Crowe shares this same thought process with another aging actor, Sylvester Stallone. The director of The Pope’s Exorcist has experience with Stallone in exactly a project very much like this.
The movie is directed by Julius Avery, and he is a man who seems to enjoy combining different themes into movies. The first movie I saw of his was Overlord (2018), which is a war movie blended with body horror elements. I really liked Overlord because it felt different and it moved really fast. Last year Avery put out Samaritan (2022) with Stallone, and the less we talk about that movie the better.
Here with The Pope’s Exorcist, the two blended concepts are exorcist movies (duh), and detective procedurals. A weird combo, but the middle portion of this particular adventure has to do a lot more with Father Gabriel Amorth exploring ruins, reading in books, and delving into research and lore. At some point The Pope himself, played by Franco Nero, is reading into the chaos so much that he becomes afflicted by it.
The two different vibes fit well together all till the final act which devolves into a bit too much CGI. I am aware that saying the ending isn’t the best way to get people to see the movie…but I digress. The final showdown between Amorth and the demon does fall off the wagon, but that’s the climax. The more intriguing bit is the film’s prologue. How it decides to wrap itself up.
Peter DeSouza-Feighoney plays a pretty damn convincing possessed child. He has the dead eyes and the zombie-es mannerisms that work. Not sure if he does all of the voice work, but the malevolence does wreak off the screen. He is not Regan, but no one is.
After the evil is vanquished and Fathers Amorth and Esquibel return to the Vatican as conquering heroes, the table is set for a future that won’t happen, but very well could. The Pope and close confidant Bishop Lumomba welcome in the gentleman and explain the stakes that have been unearthed. THere are many, many truly evil entities that still need to be dispelled, and now there are two men for the job.
Where I throw up my challenge flag is with Bishop Lumumba. He is acting far too calm and far too…stoic. I just got the heebee jeebees from him. Keep your eye out at the end of the movie. It is not a spoiler to say that he is alive come the end, but I think his ethos is worth examining deeper.
The Pope’s Exorcist fills its status quo perfectly. I am glad I did not spend money to see the movie in theaters, but I am glad I queued this up at home on my couch. I laughed at the absurdity of it but also found myself connecting with Russell Crowe in a way I never expected. That really is the biggest take away from this movie. Crowe was having a blast, and if an Oscar-winning lead actor is embracing the movie with the energy that Crowe does, then you have to enjoy it. Mark that down as a movie commandment.
Also a fun little tad-bit about this movie is that Russell Crowe went on KFC Radio at Barstool to promote the movie. The man has fun facts about Kangaroos and manages to blend in with Kevin and Feits seamlessly. Love how he appeared on KFC Radio but not on LCB. A different interview than you’d expect and worth the listen.
As of mid-September 2023, The Pope’s Exorcist is streaming on Netflix.
STANKO RATING: C
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