The Order
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Movie Reviews of The Order
Movie Review: There is a brilliant film trapped in here somewhere.
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I really, really liked this movie, I must admit it's not for everyone, and here's why. The Order encompasses one or two intriguing ideas gone a bit awry.
A priest (played by Heath Ledger) is called upon to investigate the apparent suicide of his mentor, and uncovers the mystery of an ancient being, the Sin Eater, who is able to absolve the sins of those (unrepentant sinners, excommunicated persons, suicides) a normal Catholic priest would be unable to forgive due to church dogma. The knowledge of this creature forces the priest to face his own conflicted feelings about the priesthood. Before he has even begun to sort out his confusion, the larger plot begins to unravel and he finds that he has been at the center of it for longer than he had ever realized.
Well, it would have been excellent if left at that and fleshed out for the 100-minute duration, but it was not to be. The best bits of turmoil and conflict, of passion and temptation and surrender, were skimmed through so quickly it seemed as if someone thought they were the annoying-but-necessary bits when they should have been the real meat of the film. The rest was a clogged up mess of random (and inexplicable) demon children, a power-hungry cardinal, and worst of all: a love interest (played by Shannyn Sossamon) who had absolutely no chemistry with the main character, an accent that was completely out of place, a confusingly pointless backstory, and who seemed incongruous with the setting and plot. Sadly, there were very few shots of the film's locations, only one wide shot of Rome in fact, which could have been used to set the tone much more effectively than all those shadows and candlelight.
That all said, there were many redeeming features. The soundtrack was hit-and-miss, but more hit than miss and at least it was never distracting. The duo of Ledger and Mark Addy was charming and the chemistry between Ledger's character and "William Eden" (played by Benno Fürmann) was sizzling. That adversarial relationship should have been the focus of the film rather than a sort of easter egg hunt during bits of the second half, but it was more than enough for me to consider this movie an hour and a half well spent.
Movie Review: The Sins of the Father
Summary: 4 Stars
THE ORDER is a big sloppy mess of a movie that succeeds in part, despite being laughably ridiculous at times. Heath Ledger plays Father Alex Bernier one of the last surviving members of a sect, the Carolingians (?), that perform exorcisms, drive demons back to Hell and generally cavort with the fringe dwellers of the Catholic religion. The C's believe in the sanctity of the Old Testament and are, to put it mildly, barely tolerated by Rome. This business of the C's and their place in the priesthood and in Rome is the most interesting part of the film, though Bernier pulling out a large Crucifix and driving demons enclosed in the bodies of two innocent children playing jacks back to Hell,is pretty cool also.There is also a character named William Eden (Benno Furmann) who is a "Sin Eater" (this guy literally ingests, thereby expiates the sinner of his sins...very neat!) who according to Rome, has been dead for 500 years but who seems very much alive. In fact he makes a large amount of money authenticating old works of art. How/Why? Because he was an eyewitness to Michelangelo and Caravaggio actually creating their art. Plus the man has impeccable taste as evidenced by his penchant for French White Burgundies. The man knows his Vino. Furmann plays the heck out of this role, by the way: bulging his eyes, licking his lips, managing to have the strangest look on his face at all times and generally having a gay old time with it. My main concern here is why does he sound like Jeff Spicoli part of the time and Count Dracula the other?
As I was leaving the theater, a teenager says to his friend: "I didn't know this film was about religion." And I turned to my pal: "If only religion were this much fun."
Movie Review: Suspenseful, dark and delightful.
Summary: 4 Stars
Alex (Heath Ledger) a rebellious priest from a disappearing fringe of Catholicism goes to Rome to determine the cause of the mysterious death of Dominic, his excommunicated mentor. He is accompanied in his quest by Mara (Shannyn Sossamon), a troubled love who just escaped an institution for the mentally ill and by Thomas (Mark Addy), the other living priest of his church. Together and with the help of a Cardinal (Peter Weller) and a murky and devious character named Chirac, he discovers that a Sin Eater, a person capable of absorbing someone else's sins thus granting them entry to the kingdom of Heaven over God's back, was behind the death of Dominic. When the church refuses Dominic a burial in holy ground, Alex, who is supposed to kill the Sin Eater under the Cardinal's suggestion, is instead lured by him to find the truth and understand the meaning of what he does. Then the conflict between Alex's beliefs and desires begins.
This movie has a well-assembled cast (some returning actors from Brian Helgeland's previous movie A Knight's Tale) and great acting throughout, specially from Ledger and Weller. It has a tight-written, coherent script with wonderful character interactions, great moody music and very-well placed and never overdone special effects. The best thing this movie offers though, is a subconscious lingering question about the darkness that surrounds us, be it as sin, demons, or other supernatural beings. In this regard this movie is more suspenseful and scarier than the best of horror movies.
Watch it, pay attention and enjoy.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar
Movie Review: An Intriguing Film
Summary: 4 Stars
I recall seeing TV ads for this movie right before it was released on DVD. It's advertised as a horror movie about an order within the Catholic Church that investigates the paranormal. So, of course, when I finally did buy this movie in 2005, that's what I was expecting, and what I wanted. But what this movie actually is is something completely different. I didn't like it much the first time around, and I felt cheated. But then it stayed with me and I eventually watched it again, with an open mind, and again and again. Now it's one of my favorite movies.
I will not lie - in many places the movie feels like a failed attempt to be an intelligent thriller and a scary horror movie at the same time. It's not scary, not one bit, but it does feel like a thoughtful, intelligent, and atmospheric movie. It also requires the viewer to pay attention. It's the sort of film that upon repeat viewings you'll pick up on things you missed before, and you may just like it the more you see it.
The cast, mostly transplanted from the director's previous "A Knight's Tale", is pretty good, and the only problems I saw were an occasional badly written line that they did their best with. The film is also very appealing visually and has a gothic tone and atmosphere that I really liked.
I would recommend this film to fans of supernatural movies, but be cautious because it's not what you'd expect.
Movie Review: A Mysterious, Pyschological and Theological Thrill Ride!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
WARNING**: To those who are religious, and esp. practicing Catholics, you might find this movie offensive and/or blasphemous.**Now that that's out of the way, this movie starts off on the mysterious edge and moves further and further until you're sucked in.
Alex (Heath Ledger) is a young Catholic priest, who has recently heard that his mentor, Dominic, was found dead in his home. The powers that be have written this off as suicide (a cardinal sin) as Dominic had been ex-communicated from the church long ago.
When Alex visits the morgue and sees strange markings upon Dominic's body--he now knows his death was more than just a simple suicide.
Alex and his co-priest, Thomas (Mark Addy), decide to delve into the investigation, and decide that maybe it was other forces that killed Dominic, rather than his own hand.
Alex discovers the "Sin Eaters" --a religious sect that can absolve the sins of the damned, by freeing his soul. When this ritual is done, the sinner's soul is ultimately freed, without knowledge of past sins. The sins (and the knowledge of) are now the burden of the "sin eater". However, this is done for a price--your own life. **
I won't go any further, but by now, you can pretty much get a gist of what the story is about and how it plays out.