Netflix Horror Blockbuster Sees Action Star Become Demon Fighter
1973’s The Exorcist set the high bar that every other exorcism movie is measured against, and so far there haven’t been any to challenge the title holder. In fact, it’s fair to say that most exorcism movies are middling if not outright bad. But The Pope’s Exorcist, which is now streaming on Netflix, doesn’t try to be The Exorcist, and it’s all the better for it, taking a slightly more lighthearted approach that breathes a bit of life into a tired genre.
Russell Crowe Is Father Gabriele Amorth
The Pope’s Exorcist is a film directed by Julius Avery with a screenplay by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos based on the books An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories by Father Gabriele Amorth. The protagonist of the movie, Father Amorth (Russell Crowe), is a real guy and performed over 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime as the chief exorcist for the Vatican. The movie’s story draws inspiration from these books, as we follow the good-humored and easygoing Amorth battles the forces of Satan with his exorcist expertise.
Box Office Success
Russell Crowe is key to the success of The Pope’s Exorcist, as he has a lot of fun in the role and brings an easy charm to Amorth that makes the movie worth watching. He also has a solid supporting cast that includes Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero, and Ralph Ineson. The movie ended up being a success too with a $77 million box office haul, though reviews were relatively mixed.
Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously
On Rotten Tomatoes, critics are split right down the middle on The Pope’s Exorcist, with an aggregate score of 50%. However, audiences really loved it, giving it an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Your mileage may vary based on how much you like Russell Crowe and exorcism movies in general.
Stephanie Zacharek of Time Magazine gave The Pope’s Exorcist a good review, saying, “This movie is shamefully entertaining; it’s an act of dorky blasphemy.” So, rather than being too self-serious, it sounds like the movie matches the personality of Crowe’s character, focusing more on fun than drama. Grant Watson of Fiction Machine gave the film a good overall review too, but noted, “The Pope’s Exorcist rides almost entirely on Russell Crowe’s shoulders.”
Russell Crowe Steals The Show
Riding off of the star power of one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and even the negative reviews agree that Crowe’s performance is worthwhile. John Serba of Decider gave The Pope’s Exorcist a bad review but said, “Without Crowe getting to deliver lines like “A demon once tried to put a crucifix through my eyeball” with a twinkle in his eye this movie would be DOA.” So no matter what, you’ll at least have a good time watching Crowe carry the movie, even if you don’t like other aspects of it.
Sequel In The Works
The Pope’s Exorcist also is going to get the chance to one-up itself in the future, as a sequel to the film has officially been given the green light. Not many details have come out about the potential sequel, but Crowe is expected to reprise his role. With two books to draw from and over 100,000 exorcisms, there should be plenty of material to make an interesting movie.
But Wait, There’s More!
There was also news that The Pope’s Exorcist is planned to be a trilogy, though a third movie will likely depend on the continued success of the franchise. In any case, it seems worthwhile to give Russell Crowe more screen time as the character, and maybe the next movie will make both critics and audiences happy. In the meantime, you can check the film out for yourself on Netflix.
