In The Pope's Exorcist based (I'm guessing EXTREMELY loosely) on Father Gabriele Amorth's memoirs An Exorcist Tells his Stories and An Exorcist: More Stories, the father (played by Russell Crowe) investigates the possession of an American boy in Spain.
Sooooo... This is a very by-the-numbers exorcism movie. Everything's that happened in previous movies probably happens here and there isn't anything that's unpredictable. HOWEVER, this is a very competently made exorcism movie.
The movie flows naturally without much feeling drawn out. The introduction scene with Amorth is pretty memorable.
This has a solid look to it. (The production team was clearly having fun.) I loved the foreboding, kinda stylized look of the ancient manor the family's staying at. There are a couple weird visuals that grab the eye.
The best part is definitely Crowe. His Amorth is really likable and he breathes life into the role. He seems to be on an accent streak here (the last being his role in Thor: Love and Thunder), and I can't speak to his Italian inflection's accuracy, but it works pretty well. Penny Dreadful: City of Angels' Daniel Zovatto plays the practically requisite younger member of the church who's a rookie to exorcism Father Esquibel, and does an admirable job working off of Crowe.
The one straight-up weak point to this (besides the plot predictability) is that there's a subplot with Amorth's enemy within the Vatican Cardinal Sullivan (Ryan O'Grady) that feels half-baked and unnecessary. I wonder if some of his scenes got cut?
Kinda recommended. Doesn't break the mold, but it makes for a fun time-waster.
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