The Exorcist: Believer (English) Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER is the story of two girls who get possessed. The year is 2010. Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr) visits Port Au Prince, Haiti with his pregnant wife Sorenne (Tracey Graves). An earthquake takes place that severely injures Sorenne. She dies but the baby survives. 13 years later, Victor is settled in Percy, Georgia with his daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett). One day, Angela makes a plan with her classmate Katherine (Olivia Marcum) to go to the woods after school. When they don't return, their worried parents call the cops. The police officers try their best but are unable to locate their whereabouts. 3 days later, Angela and Catherine are found in a barn 30 miles away from the woods. Shockingly, they have no memory of how they reached the barn, that too without shoes. On top of that, they believe that they were gone only a few hours. Once back home, both Angela and Catherine start behaving weirdly, scaring their parents. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Scott Teems, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green's story is promising. Peter Sattler and David Gordon Green's screenplay, however, is devoid of tension and scary moments. The dialogues are normal.
David Gordon Green's direction is just okay. The director sets up the story well initially. The sequence of the earthquake and that of the missing girls is very captivating. Moreover, getting the character from the first part, THE EXORCIST [1973], is a masterstroke.
Unfortunately, the makers fail to utilize this trump card to its potential. Firstly, many are not aware that the character they see on screen has a connection with the first part. The makers should have established it well. Secondly, the second half is clichéd and something we have seen countless times before. The film also ends abruptly, probably because a sequel is in the offing.
Leslie Odom Jr doesn't put on a nice act and is emotionless in several scenes. Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum, however, are excellent in their respective parts. Tracey Graves is lovely in a cameo. Norbert Leo Butz (Tony; Katherine's father) and Jennifer Nettles (Miranda, Katherine's mother) are decent. The same goes for E J Bonilla (Father Maddox) and Ann Dowd (Ann). Okwui Okpokwasili (Dr Beehibe) doesn't have much to do.
David Wingo and Amman Abbasi's is functional. Michael Simmonds' cinematography is appropriate. Brandon Tonner-Connolly's production design is nothing special. VFX is minimal and works. Tim Alverson's editing is sharp.
On the whole, THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER fails to impress due to a weak and clichéd second half. At the box office, it'll face a tough time though the association with the brand EXORCIST might attract a tiny section of the audience.
