The Rite Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Colin O'Donghue, Alice Braga Rating: NR Release Date: January 8, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 3/10
MY THOUGHTS: Is it possible to be a waste of my life if it only clocks in a little over two minutes? Either way The Rite can't seem to do anything right in this trailer. If this were a teaser trailer, it might be forgivable, but I don't think that's the case. It's torn between two problems. On one hand, it seems to be saying too much. It literally takes half of the trailer before any discernible plot is seen. We get it, demons are bad and the Vatican is scared of them but doesn't want people to know they're scared. That sentiment made three or four appearances by the end of the trailer and I've just got to say, it's not a terribly complex idea. I was actually able to pick up on it the first time. This leads to the second problem. The trailer says too much, but the trailer doesn't have much to say. It ends up repeating itself over and over. Unless that's the real horror, it just comes off as lazy filmmaking.
When it does finally get to a plot, it's the same recycled garbage since the beginning of demonic possession movies. They even have the whole yelling up at the sky in the rain cliche. I know it's a movie and all, but seriously? It just looks ridiculous. At this point, I'm just ready to give up on most demonic possession movies as a whole, and let me just say, The Rite does anything but renew my faith in the sub-genre.