Blu Ray Review: The Rite (2011)

The Rite
2011
114 minutes
rated PG-13
Available on DVD, Blu Ray, onDemand, and iTunes on May 17th from Warner Home Video

by Scott Mendelson

The theatrical review can be found HERE.

The Blu Ray:

Well, this won't take long.  The film looks relatively sharp, although the muted palate won't make this demo material.  But the details are rich and the film seems an accurate representation of its theatrical presentation.  A standard-def DVD is also included, but like most Warner DVDs, it is an overly saturated, yellow-tinged presentation with heavy macro-blocking.  The film sounds pretty solid on my English 2.0 set-up, as dialogue is always audible and cleanly seperated from the sound effects and the score.  As for extras?  Uh... well, you get a DVD of the feature, as well as a digital copy.  Other than that, you get an alternate ending (it's more 'scary' but less credible), twelve minutes of deleted scenes (I wish Rutger Hauer's scenes had made the theatrical cut, as he underrepresented in the feature), and a seven-minute EPK about the exorcism school that I wish the film itself had focused on.

So, mediocre film, great video and audio, but a near-complete absence of extras.  This is the very definition of a 'rental-only' release.   

Weekend Box Office (01/30/11): The Rite tops, The Mechanic opens well, and Oscar nominees continue to soar.

While there were two major openers over the weekend and both of them opened within expectations, the real news was the performance of the various Oscar nominees that were in a position to capitalize on last week's nominations. Generally speaking, the news was good all around. Topping the weekend was The Rite, as the heavily-advertised religious thriller opened with $15 million. As far as religious horror pictures go, it pales to the $30 million scored by The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2005, the $19 million earned by The Exorcist: The Beginning in 2004, the $20 million earned in the opening jaunt of The Last Exorcism several months ago (a surprisingly terrific little movie, by the way), and even the $19 million opening weekend of Stigmata from way back in September 1999. Still, The Rite had less overtly horror-ific moments to highlight in the ad campaign, as it mainly had a few fleeting shots of supernatural terror plus Anthony Hopkins to sell. The $35 million Warner Bros/New Line Cinema release will do just fine in the long run, and the film (for what it's worth) is Anthony Hopkins's biggest opening weekend for a top-billed star vehicle where he doesn't play Hannibal Lecter.

Review: The Rite (2011)

The Rite
2011
114 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Mikael Håfström's The Rite is a case where the true story that the film is seemingly based on seems far more interesting than the movie that got made.  The opening act of the picture seems to be setting up a story set in a relatively new Vatican program to teach modern-day priests how to perform exorcisms.  Sounds neat, right?  But the film quickly discards that idea to focus on a couple token case studies that, while interesting, too often feel like toned-down variations of any number of exorcism genre entries.  To its credit, the film is far more of a drama than an outright horror picture.  The third-act dovetail into the overtly 'scary' feels more like a test screening demand than an organic filmmaking choice.  But the film is creditably performed, looks polished throughout, and contains worthwhile insights about maintaining faith in an era of intellectual doubt.