Russell Crowe’s ‘The Exorcism’ wastes good concept
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Russell Crowe’s career has gone to hell. At least it has seemed that way over the past 14 months. In April 2023, Crowe starred as Father Amorth in the lackluster feature film “The Pope’s Exorcist.” Now he is playing Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who gets cast to star in a remake of the 1973 supernatural classic “The Exorcist.”
Actors often do roles in the same genre but these journeys into the world of demonic possession are so closely grouped together they feel like a pair of bad bookends. Crowe’s career has been more diverse in the past – even turning in a laughable performance in “Les Miserables.” His twin exorcism stories needed more separation.
For the record, no one in Crowe’s latest lackluster dive into the supernatural, “The Exorcism,” never actually says it is a remake they are trying to mount. But there is a lot of winking and elbowing when the working title of the film being shot is “The Georgetown Project.” That is where William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel and the film were based. And the director of “The Exorcism,” Joshua John Miller, is the son of John Miller who starred in “The Exorcist.”
In “The Exorcism,” Anthony Miller is a mess. The once prominent actor emotionally, physically and spiritually crashed and burned triggered by the death of his wife. His option to checkout instead of facing the horrors of the loss resulted in Miller being estranged from his daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins). She’s also a mess but not enough to add an interesting element to the story.
The film being mounted in “The Exorcism” starts with the death of one of its lead actors. A maniacal director (Adam Goldberg) takes a chance on Miller despite pushback from the studio.
He should have listened to his bosses.
Miller can’t find the emotional depth to play the priest who has been called in to get the demons out of a young girl. The director’s way of motivating him is to use every vile manner to remind Miller of the horrors of his real life.
What starts out looking like a beautiful mind turning ugly ends up being a battle with a demon. And the exorcism circle is complete.
Novice director Joshua John Miller should have taken a page from the script he wrote with M.A. Fortin. Crowe never finds the emotional depth to give Miller’s spiral down through the levels of hell any power. There are few creepy moments but overall Crowe’s performance in “The Pope’s Exorcist” was better but that was a very low bar.
Crowe’s lackadaisical attitude infected a large part of the cast. David Hyde Pierce plays the real Catholic priest hired to be chief consultant on all things archaic for the film. The moment he mentions he has psychological training, his performance looks like Niles Crane took a different career path after “Frasier” ended.
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The original concept of what might happen while remaking a classic like “The Exorcist” is solid. Once it is used to establish why a movie is being made about exorcisms then the concept fades.
Gore and violence take the forefront but in a weird way. The cast and crew making the movie see Miller’s character do very weird things including physical acts that would kill a normal human being. He also gets very violent and suicidal.
This is where the movie opts out of the logical approach established with the remake concept and allows illogical actions to run free. There are multiple points where Miller should be in the hospital, committed to a sanitarium or dead. In the interest of keeping the painfully predictable story going, he is allowed to continue working.
It all leads to the kind of battle with the demon that has been presented in so many other projects. It is good versus evil with a lot of people yelling “Take me!” Audience members may be shouting that to ushers as this lame tale staggers to an ending.
The proximity of the two exorcism films for Crowe doesn’t help the cause of either. The truth is the two films could have been separated by decades and they would both fail to find the kind of hell raising performances needed to save the films and Crowe’s career that appears to be headed in a devilish direction.
Movie review
The Exorcism
Grade: D+
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Adam Goldberg, Sam Worthington, Davd Hyde Pierce.
Director: Joshua John Miller
Rated: R for language, violence, thematic elements, scary images
Running time: 93 minutes.
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