After the success of The Last Exorcism (a horror film masquerading as a fake documentary) comes a "true" story trying to be a horror film. Based on Matt Baglio's book The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, Mikael Håfström's thriller follows novice priest Michael (Colin O'Donoghue) as he's sent to Rome to study exorcism. Michael is skeptical, so his teacher (Ciarán Hinds) refers him to Father Lucas (Sir Anthony Hopkins), a grizzled Welsh cleric who lives in a crumbling piazza with a million cats. A fellow student and journalist (Alice Braga) tags along, and there's a viable case of possession that backfires on Lucas and shakes Michael's beliefs. Those seeking gore will be disappointed; those interested in how a crisis of faith responds to a brush with the Devil will be intrigued; those wanting to see a film devoid of clichés and implausibility should look elsewhere. Still, Hopkins is terrific, inhabiting the role like, well, a man possessed.
