Spellbinding ‘The Rite’ Treats Faith and Moviegoers with Deep Respect

Think of Hollywood movies about devils and exorcisms, and “The Exorcist” would likely spring to mind first. Shocking audiences to their core in 1973, that film went on to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination and become a worldwide smash hit that continues to rattle viewers to this day.

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Legend has it that “The Exorcist” filmmakers also suffered from an on-set curse that caused numerous accidents and even a death to occur during the filming process. This weekend, a new film called “The Rite” is hitting theaters with its own dark tale of a young priest-in-training named Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue in a star-making film debut) whose personal crisis of faith is tested by a creepy veteran exorcist named Father Lucas, played to chilly perfection by the modern master of cinematic evil, Anthony Hopkins (“Silence of the Lambs”).

While “The Rite” offers plenty of jaw-dropping horrific moments, the key difference between it and “The Exorcist” is the fact that it’s rooted in a nonfiction book on the subject called The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, by journalist Matt Baglio. As a result of the presence of Baglio and the book’s subject, an American exorcist named Father Gary Thomas, the film relies less on gallons of pea soup and grotesque effects and more on a subtle, reflective – yet still thrilling – approach to its subject.

The film follows Kovak as he decides to enter a seminary for priestly training after being given an ultimatum by his father (Rutger Hauer) to enter either the family mortuary business or become a priest. Kovak’s mother passed away when he was a young boy. After finishing his four years of pre-vow studies, he tries to resign from the seminary and get off the hook with a free education but no commitment to the priesthood.

But after he’s witness to a bizarre, split-second accident that kills a bicyclist and he fulfills her dying wish for an absolution of her sins, Kovak is given an ultimatum by the head of the seminary: either confront his doubts by going for exorcist training at the Vatican, or risk having the church reclassify his $100,000 education as a student loan rather than a scholarship. Kovak heads for Rome, and soon is forced to team up with Father Lucas as punishment for his snarky expression of doubts about the devil during his other teachers’ lectures.

Together, Kovak and Father Lucas form an intriguing father-son style team that expertly mixes dark wit, powerful emotions, and nail-biting suspense to make this exploration of faith and doubt richly entertaining. Writer Michael Petroni and director Mikael Hafstrom (“1408”) treat their subject with appropriate gravity without becoming heavy-handed, and pull out Hopkins’ best performance since “Hannibal” a full decade ago.

But the story rests on O’Donoghue’s richly varied performance, as he expertly serves as a surrogate for viewers’ doubts while effectively taking them along on his at times terrifying quest for the truth. His mix of leading-man looks and dashing combination of humor, emotion, and terror bodes well for a long career.

Rooted in solid real-life experience and consultations as well as a surprisingly strong respect for faith and a portrayal of priests as heroes, “The Rite” scores points not only as entertainment but as a refreshing portrait of faith. And in giving viewers an intelligent yet fun exploration of life, death, and the existence of evil, “The Rite” should prove ready for a long run at the multiplex.