By Gary

Whether you believe in the paranormal or not The Pope’s Exorcist doesn’t reinvent the genre but does stand out.

The film follows exorcist Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe), the Vatican’s chief exorcist, as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.

Russell Crowe is at his explosive and powerful best. The plot really gets moving fast. There’s no real character building but what I will say is Crowe really does play the part well.

The film doesn’t really do anything new; we’ve seen it all before with The Exorcist but for some reason or another this was better than expected.

The Pope’s Exorcist is a real position at the Vatican and Gabriele Amorth held this position in real life having started as an assistant in 1986 to his death in 2016.

Russell Crowe came up with the idea of Gabriele Amorth riding a Vespa in the film through seeing priests driving through Rome and wanted to include it in the film.

The film has a very good story, and it is set up so they could make more, well 199 more to be precise.

The soundtrack has potential and the cinematography triumphs with its chiaroscuro, achieving a good atmosphere with the filming locations.

The downside is the digital special effects that look fake in several scenes, but the gore and some old-school effects are welcome.

The Pope’s Exorcist isn’t the best exorcism movie ever made, but it manages to stand out from most that have touched on this subject in recent years.

My Rating: 7/10