Film Review: THE POPE’S EXORCIST (2023): Russell Crowe is Back in Fine Form in a Very Watchable Possession Film

The Pope’s Exorcist Review

The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Julius Avery, written by Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos and starring Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Laurel Marsden, Cornell John, Ryan O’Grady, Paloma Bloyd, Alessandro Gruttadauria, River Hawkins, Jordi Collet, Carrie Munro, Marc Velasco, Edward Harper-Jones and Matthew Sim.

Director Julius Avery’s new horror film, The Pope’s Exorcist, marks the return of Oscar winner Russell Crowe in a role tailor-fit for his abilities. This may just be Crowe’s best performance in quite a few years. Crowe plays the determined yet rebellious Father Gabriel Amorth who could just hold the key to saving a young boy named Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) who has become possessed by a satanic demonic force. Nothing in The Pope’s Exorcist feels cliched despite the fact that there have been numerous possession movies over the years and it’s to Crowe’s credit that the audience will be rooting for his character the whole entire movie.

In Spain, 1987, we meet a woman named Julia (Alex Essoe) who has two children, Henry and Amy (Laurel Marsden). Amy is a brat with a bad attitude and Henry hasn’t spoken since the death of his father. Julia is going through hard times financially but could be able to restore her family’s future if things go as planned. When Henry starts talking vulgarly to Julia, she takes him to the hospital where it is thought that the child could be going through some sort of psychosis. However, it is actually a demon that has taken over Henry’s body and Julia is going to need a lot of help.

The somewhat wet behind his ears Father Esquibil (Daniel Zovatto) will need the help of Amorth to take on the task of exorcising the child of this demonic possession. Crowe’s Amorth is a well-written character. He drives around on a motor bike and stands his own ground when his colleagues try to strip him of his duties after a tragic series of events. Amorth is the perfect choice to exorcise Henry’s demons. In fact, the demon itself actually wants Amorth on the case. The Pope (well played by Franco Nero) needs Amorth to save the day in more ways than one.

There are a number of backstories in The Pope’s Exorcist. One of the most crucial involves a young woman who had jumped to her death. There are a lot of ways the stories coalesce in the new film and most of the threads are interwoven by Avery with precision. Then, there are also some truly horrific scenes which will keep the viewer riveted. Some of them involve the young possessed boy saying despicable things to his mom. When both Henry and Amy get possessed, there is some true on-screen tension (Amy even walks on all-fours like a spider at one point) but the most intriguing sequences in the movie involve Esquibil and Amorth’s attempts to bring salvation to Julia’s kids, Henry in particular. Amorth and the demon face off with terrific results. Amorth tries to hang himself at one point when he becomes possessed, but this evil force is trying to take him over and won’t stop till it succeeds. It doesn’t want Amorth’s body to die.

As the film gets to its concluding scenes, there are plenty of bloody scenes that will make horror movie fans have a great time. Two women appear from the dead as well to further try to seductively tempt Esquibil and Amorth. It’s all done in a fashion that is remarkably watchable.

Crowe hasn’t been this good in a heroic role in years. He makes Amorth a largely relatable character and the movie sets the stage at the end to tell of further escapades of Amorth in potential future sequels. Crowe makes us invested in the material and it’s one of his better performances of late. A sequel would certainly be welcome.

It wouldn’t be fair to single out Crowe for the movie’s success because he’s backed up by a terrific slate of supporting players. Cornell John is fine as the respectable Bishop Lumumba but it is Zovatto and Essoe who take top honors in the supporting ensemble. Zovatto smoothly plays the priest who Amorth takes under his wing and is the only one who can really help Amorth overcome the demon at large in the picture. Essoe does the mother role extremely well as woman who wants to save her children from the despair they endured after the death of their dad and, of course, she will do anything to see that her son’s literal demon is expelled from his body.

Of course, both young performers Marsden and DeSouza-Feighoney are also well-cast with the latter looking really frightening thanks to the effects the film employs. Marsden’s character goes through a lot of changes throughout the movie and the actress captures all of them quite well. All the major performances are on-point and make the movie rise above the usual horror picture norms. Ryan O’Grady’s challenging character, Cardinal Sullivan, is also a standout performance within the picture.

The Pope’s Exorcist is one of the most surprising genre successes of 2023. Horror movies aren’t usually this good these days and Crowe has had his share of recent disappointments so it was not foreseeable that this movie would be as entertaining as it is. It’s not perfect, though. There are a few cases where the movie goes too far into its backstories and the jury is still out on whether or not all those backstories in the movie tie together satisfactorily but they are integrated into the film well from a cinematic standpoint.

In the end, The Pope’s Exorcist will be well-received by both horror film fans and Russell Crowe fans. It’s a story of good versus evil that is almost as satisfying as a movie like this could be.

Rating: 7.5/10

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