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The Order

2003

Action / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

17
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 10% · 61 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 38% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.1/10 10 18843 18.8K

rome, italy riddle vatican (holy see) vatican investigation exorcism

Plot summary

For centuries, a secret Order of priests has existed within the Church. A renegade priest, Father Alex Bernier, is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of one of the Order's most revered members. Following a series of strangely similar killings, Bernier launches an investigation that forces him to confront unimaginable evil.

Director

Brian Helgeland Photo
Brian Helgeland

Top cast

Peter Weller Photo
Peter Weller as Driscoll
Heath Ledger Photo
Heath Ledger as Alex Bernier
Rosalinda Celentano Photo
Rosalinda Celentano as Faraway Eyes Girl
Shannyn Sossamon Photo
Shannyn Sossamon as Mara Sinclair
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
939.03 MB
1280*700
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 4
1.89 GB
1904*1040
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 42 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 5 / 10

Dark thriller about a young priest who is sent to investigate when the head of the order dies

Suspense, mystery , shocks and grisly horror is this average terror film about occultism . It deals with a young reverend named Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger) is a member of an arcane order of priests known as Carolingians , he is sent to Rome to investigate the troubling death of the head of his order . The body bears strange marks on the chest which may or may not be the sign of a Sin Eater named William Eden (Vincent Cassel had originally been cast but left the production after three weeks due to "creative differences" , as he has been replaced by Benno Fürmann), a renegade who offers absolution, last rites ; therefore a path to heaven outside the jurisdiction of the church and unleashing fantastic powers . Alex enlists the aid of his old comrade named Father Thomas (Mark Addy) . Meantime ,the father is attempting to find out the bottom of events and he soon finds himself plunged into a mystery only to find himself at the heart of it. This is an average suspenseful and horrifying story , based on a screenplay by Brian Helgeland , also producer and filmmaker . The movie begins slowly and grows more and more until the twisted , creepy and eerie finale . Mediocre picture , thanks to passable acting , slow-moving pacing , middlingly mounted edition and skillful special effects . The film contains restless terror and usual poltergeists phenomenon . Passable acting by Heath Ledger as Alex , a priest sent to Rome to investigate mysterious circumstances surrounding a strange death and Sossamon as a troubled artist upon whom he once performed an exorcism . Enjoyable secondary cast as Mark Addy , Benno Furmann and special mention to Peter Weller , according to Brian Helgeland, did extensive research for his role by studying old religious rituals and histrionics. It is produced with little budget but well recreated with high grade special effects that are frightening and horrifying to spectator as when the sin eater carries out his abilities . It's actually halfway decent terror movie that failed at the box office and it will appeal to ghostly and eerie events fonds . Originally scheduled for January 17, 2002, the film's release date was postponed when the visual effects had to be redone because they were thought to be unintentionally funny , according to a anonymous source close to the production quoted by Variety magazine, the special effects depicting sins exiting the human body after death looked like "calamari".The picture packs a colorful as well as dark cinematography by Nicola Pecorini and eerie musical score by David Torn . The motion picture was regularly written , produced and directed by Brian Helgeland . Brian is a prestigious screenwriter , he won both his Oscar and a Razzie award the same weekend in 1998: He took Best Screenplay for L.A. Confidential (1997) and Worst Screenplay for Kevin Costner's The Postman (1997). He wrote the draft of the screenplay for Bourne supremacy (2004) but is not credited in the final film. His directing mentor was Richard Donner when they worked together on Conspiratión (1997) and then when Brain started to direct Payback (1999). He went on working on scripts of "Blood Work" and "Mystic River" for Clint Eastwood. An directed this ¨Sin eater¨ with Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, and Mark Addy all previously appeared together in ¨knight's tale¨. The motion picture will appeal to religious thriller buffs and dark atmosphere enthusiasts .
Reviewed by saxon-7 5 / 10

Great theme, BUT!!!!!

Alex is a member of the Carolingians, a fraction within the Christian church, and is sent to Rome when a high standing member of the order is found dead. During Alex's investigation he's confronted by a Sin Eater (one who gives absolution outside the church) who want Alex to become the next Sin Eater.

The theme/premise of this movie has a lot of potential, unfortunately it isn't that well exploited and quickly becomes bogged down due to a very disinterested lack of pace and sense of meaning. While the portrayal of the Sin Eater idea is good and the Carolingians Order is a nice touch, it all seems a bit hastily put together without much sense of direction.

The effects are very good and feels right, the acting is generally good (Heath Ledger does lack some) with Benno Fürmann being the best, but Peter Weller also does well.

While the plot idea, effects and acting is very good the movie unfortunately isn't which is a very big shame since the theme has a lot to offer but somewhere in the directing or screen writing something has gone wrong.

The Order only gets 5 out of 10, with 4 out of these being for the plot idea, effects and acting alone.

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