The_Order

The Order

Thoughts:

Yes, I am a typical female in that I think that Heath Ledger is cute, but that's not the reason I want to see this movie.

First off, I'm a sucker for supernatural thrillers. Something that tests the boundaries of what we know as reality piques my interest. This movie takes something that is evident in everyday life (the church) and says "eh, eh, eh...you don't know as much about this as you think you do." Go ahead. Expand the boundaries of my realm of possibility. I dare you.

Second, it's a mystery. Yes, I devoured Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books when I was little and, as my BBC America viewing habits will tell you, I still love mysteries. They give my brain something to chew on.

Third, I wanna see how Heath Ledger pulls it off! Just from watching the trailer, this seems like a role that would be given to a much older actor, not a guy my age. The character seems to be a tragic hero battling a massive foe. One man against the world AND the underworld. That's quite a tall order for the guy from Ten Things I Hate About You. I'm rooting for him. Don't get me wrong! I just hope this production is targeted for mystery-buffs and not the usual gaggle of Heath-hungry girls. Trailers CAN be misleading, you know.

Movie poster from IMDB.com

Afterthoughts:

Wow. I honestly don't know what to make of this movie.

No, seriously.

It was a mystery, to a certain extent, but it's mostly a tragic hero story...emphasis on the tragic. It's definately not geared toward teenage girls. The movie is very dark and very moody. Essentially, it's about this New York priest who is brought to Rome to find out how and why his excommunicated mentor was killed. The Vatican keeps telling him that it was suicide, but he doesn't believe it. He brings along this girls that he performed an exorcism on a while back and just escaped from a mental institution. Yeah, I didn't believe it either. After he gets to Rome, the priest meets up with the other priest in his order and together they work on the mystery. Oh, didn't I mention it? He and this other priest are the last of their order.

There are a lot of humorous one-liners in this and it really exercises your emotions. Not quite the wringer of a Schindler's List-type movie, but there were times when I wanted to stand up in the theater and yell, "what the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot," at the screen. It's not a hero story in the sense of the hero being this perfect human being who always does the right thing and saves the girl and the world before breakfast. Heath Ledger's character is flawed and, quite honestly, it wouldn't have been as good a movie if he had been a perfect hero. I walked out of the theater trying to comprehend the choices his character made and seeing how he could have made them, but still saying to myself, "how could he DO that??"

Kudos to Heath Ledger for this one. He pulled it off. I wasn't sure if he could, but he did. He's a much better actor that I ever gave him credit for and, for this, I apologize for ever underestimating him.

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