Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

The Order Blu-ray Movie Review

Cinematic purgatory.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater September 22, 2010

I’ll admit to having a critical soft spot for religious, especially Catholic-themed, horror films. When they’re done well, like The Exorcist or The Omen, the sense of ritual, the wrestling between belief and doubt, the archaic imagery and mantra-like prayers all evoke the terrifying possibilities of a cosmic conflict that wages just beneath the veneer of everyday reality. Irrespective of whether you actually believe in a supernatural struggle for the souls of mankind, the good versus evil dichotomy is a potent storytelling tool that's capable of exploiting our most primal feelings—fear and awe of the unknown. The religious horror sub-genre made a minor resurgence in the late 1990s and early 00s, but, almost without exception, the films were mediocre or worse. Frailty was good, but movies like End of Days, Stigmata, Lost Souls, and The Ninth Gate did little but play up the world’s collective anxieties about the millennium. The Order, from 2003, came a little after that initial crop— you’d think writer/director Brian Helgeland could’ve learned from the others’ mistakes—but it might be the worst of the bunch. Schizophrenically scripted, unsure of its intent, and—worst of all—dull, The Order is purgatory at 24 frames per second.

It’s also, arguably, the worst film of the late Heath Ledger’s tragically cut short career. Here, Ledger plays Alex Bernier, a brooding, unconventional young priest who belongs to the nearly extinct Carolingian sect, an order disliked by the Vatican because they “surpass even Jesuits in their heretical search for knowledge.” They’re also trained to “dispatch all manner of ghosts, demons, and the undead.” In other words, and to borrow from the kung-fu priest in Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive, Alex “kicks ass for the Lord.”

When his mentor, Father Dominic (Francesco Carnelutti), dies mysteriously in Rome, Alex jets off to the Vatican to investigate, accompanied by Mara (Shannyn Sossamon), a mildly mentally ill artist who has a thing for him but who also tried to shoot him once during an exorcism. (Don’t ask me to explain—the film never does.) Alex likes Mara too, but his vow of celibacy keeps him from doing anything about it—for a while, at least. Also joining them on this ecclesiastical errand is Thomas (Mark Addy), a jovial fellow Carolingian who inexplicably calls Alex “Spaghetti-O.” (Yet another of the film’s unexplained in-jokes.) After a lead from the vaguely ominous Cardinal Driscoll (Peter Weller)—a prime contender to be the next pope—Alex and Thomas descend into an underground lair that I can only describe as a three-way cross between a German fetish club, a temple from an Indiana Jones film, and the “Spanish Inquisition” scene from Mel Brooks’ The History of the World Part I, where they meet a black-hooded “pagan-worshipping-pig” who offers a cryptic clue as to the whereabouts of a certain Sin Eater involved in Father Dominic’s death.

A Sin Eater—for those of you who, for whatever reason, aren’t versed in obscure heretical doctrines stamped out by the papacy—is a kind of surrogate savior who offers deathbed absolution of sins to those excommunicated from the One True Church. Basically, it’s a human scapegoat who gives what might be called—in the language of Monopoly—a “Get Out of Hell Free” card. And these guys actually existed, right up until the 20th century. If you were dying, and you were on the outs with the church, you’d send someone to fetch Ye Olde Sin Eater. In The Order, the world’s sole remaining eater of sins is William Eden (Benno Furman), a suave, goatee-sporting trickster who—and here’s the twist that isn’t really a twist—is immortal. Yes, if you become a sin eater, you’re granted everlasting terrestrial life. It’s kind of like being a vampire, except you can go outside during the day and instead of sucking blood, you chow down on some serious sin. Obviously, this would eventually get boring—after accumulating all the wealth you’d ever need and watching the loves of your life grow old and die—so William is on the hunt for a replacement. Now, I wonder whom he might groom as a potential successor?

While the whole sin eating premise has potential, The Order is more than just disordered—it’s in total disarray. Alex might be having a crisis of faith, but the film’s crisis is its identity. The movie was marketed to the horror crowd, and though early scenes do feature (largely extraneous) demon children and creepy corpse faces, mid-way through it becomes a diluted, Diet Coke version of a Dan Brown-esque, conspiracy-in-the-Vatican- type thriller like The Da Vinci Code. (Which is, itself, just a watered down version of more literary brain-benders, like Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum.) Just to be clear: there is nothing scary about The Order. There’s not even anything particularly mysterious about it.

What we do have are uncomplicated but wholly implausible characters talking like rejects from some archaic seminary and stumbling through a plot constructed like a hedge maze—every time we take an interesting turn, it inevitably turns out to be a dead end. The point of the film eludes me; it’s vaguely about retribution, redemption, and knowledge, but writer/director Brian Helgeland seems pensive about saying anything at all. Even the idea of a Sin Eater as an arbiter—able to choose who he’ll save or damn—goes wasted, as the evil, Black Pope character who eventually gets his comeuppance isn’t developed enough for us to care, one way or another, about his eternal fate. Similarly, the short-lived romance between Alex and Mara is just a means to a disappointing narrative end. And Ledger, working here off a script with no substance, is like a priest who’s lost his faith—he’s just going through the liturgical motions.

The Order Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

So, The Order on Blu-ray: the second coming or an unholy union? The truth is somewhere in the middle. The film's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is merely satisfying at its best, and dim, murky, and indistinct at its worst. I'll get the PQ sins out of the way first. There are several scenes in The Order—like the child demon confrontation in the graveyard, or Thomas meeting the Black Pope—that are almost impenetrably dark, with deep, crushing shadows that make it nearly impossible to see what's happening. (Don't watch the film during the day with the windows open if you have a screen that's prone to glare.) Contrast also has a tendency to be flat and lifeless. Colors are restrained and somewhat dull as well, with occasional exceptions like Mara's sunflowers. At the same time, to be fair, the film seems like it's intentionally going for a slightly antiquated, less glossy look than most modern horror movies. Watching the grainy opening scene, with its credits in a font similar to the one used for The Exorcist, you could easily imagine that The Order was made sometime in the mid-1970s. There are definitely some soft shots scattered throughout, but the transfer's clarity is decent, and certainly presents an improvement over the DVD, especially in close-ups. There are no DNR or edge enhancement abuses, and aside from some noise in some of the darker scenes, I didn't spot any overly apparent compression issues.

The Order Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Horror films usually have hectic, immersive, frequently scary sound design, but since The Order really isn't a horror film, none off that applies to the movie's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Don't get me wrong, there are some good uses of the multi-channel mix here—bats fluttering through the rears, glass shattering across the soundfield, wind blowing all around—but there's nothing noteworthy, and there are many situations where the track could've been much more active than it is. Still, there's nothing inherently wrong with this mix. The dialogue is perfectly prioritized, David Torn's score has a sweep and menace that the film's story never matches, and the track has appreciable low-end oomph and high-end clarity. Unfortunately, this is a dull movie, and the soundtrack reflects that with merely so-so sound design. Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available in easy-to-read white lettering.

The Order Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There's not much here, but I wasn't really expecting much either. First up is a rather joyless audio commentary with writer/director Brian Helgeland, who dwells quite often on the over-obvious. We also have seven deleted/expanded scenes with optional commentary—running nearly twenty minutes— and a theatrical trailer. Both the scenes and the trailer are in standard definition.

The Order Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Order makes early attempts at horror, but eventually lapses into a liturgical "thriller" that's distinctly short on thrills and moves at the pace of the Pope-mobile. It'll put you to sleep faster than a midnight Mass. The film gets a decent presentation on Blu-ray, but unless you're holding a Heath Ledger movie marathon, The Order isn't worth your time.