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The Order (The Sin Eater)

The Order (The Sin Eater) (2003)

tomatometer

9

Average Rating: 2.9/10
Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 52

A religious thriller that's more lethargic and silly than thrilling.

0

Average Rating: 2.6/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 12

A religious thriller that's more lethargic and silly than thrilling.

audience

43

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 22,334

My Rating

Movie Info

Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger portrays a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians. He's sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians, whose body was found with strange marks on its chest. While in Rome, he asks for help from an old friend (Mark Addy) and an elusive artist Shannyn Sossamon to help solve the murder. The priest ends up at the Vatican, where he

R,

Mystery & Suspense

Brian Helgeland

Dec 30, 2003

$7.5M

20th Century Fox - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (57) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (52) | DVD (4)

Devout Catholics will be appalled; everyone else will be asleep.

February 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The picture is so lethargic that I began to think of watching it as a form of atonement.

September 10, 2003 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
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It's The Exorcist warmed over.

September 8, 2003
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

May be the nadir of the subgenre that produced The Exorcist (at its high end) and Stigmata (at its middle-to-low end).

September 8, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie would be perfect material for a resurrected version of the TV spoof Mystery Science Theater.

September 8, 2003
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A supernaturally silly drama about priests, exorcism, sin-eaters and Heath Ledger struggling with such pious problems as how to keep his fake Euro accent in place.

September 8, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Daily News
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There's little reason to watch this mess.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

"The Order" is a halfhearted "supernatural thriller"%u2014interpret as not an actual "horror" movie...

June 12, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

It's long on atmosphere and whispered moments of creepy discovery.

May 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

This has to be one of the most inconsequential films dealing with religion ever made.

June 26, 2005 Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony

... it has a curious disorder, one that makes it both interesting and pallid.

September 20, 2004
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

It's preposterous, silly rather than frightening, and the performances and characterizations have a pot-boiler feel.

March 19, 2004 Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS)

Frequently descends into unintentional hilarity, nervous camp, and eventually exasperation.

February 24, 2004 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

As the movie's promotion intimates, 'There is a fate worse than death,' and you got it - it's sitting through this movie.

February 9, 2004 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

My dear Brian Helgeland, lack of originality is a sin. Eat it.

February 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Mixed Reviews

A miserably dark and sluggish picture to endure. Helgeland and his stars have hopefully observed last rites on this and moved on to bigger and (especially) better things.

December 15, 2003 Full Review Source: FilmStew.com

...the movie makes little sense even for a guy more than willing to suspend his disbelief, as I was.

December 5, 2003 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Blood in. Blood out. Eye roll.

November 25, 2003 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

From the casting to the plot to the monologues that come off sounding like SNL jokes, everything here is just plain sloppy.

September 11, 2003 Full Review Source: E! Online
E! Online

The film's failed gothic look is just ugly, so forcibly dank that important details, like which characters are in a certain scene, sometimes get lost.

September 11, 2003 Full Review

In what church is Heath Ledger a priest? And who are the nuns - Heather Graham and Tara Reid?

September 11, 2003 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat
Aisle Seat

All the fine cinematography can't hide the sad fact that the second half of the film delivers none of the shocks and starts required of atmospheric horror.

September 11, 2003 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly
L.A. Weekly

The Order is scuzzy and lazy, such a muddle that no one really need be offended. Actually, no one need even bother with it all. That's why I'm being paid in this space, to spare you the temptation.

September 11, 2003 Full Review

Most bad horror movies at least offer the compensation of being unconsciously funny. The Order just makes you wish you were unconscious.

September 11, 2003 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

The ABC's of the plot are nearly mystifying, and once you have everything figured out you'll realize that the end result was hardly worth all the effort.

September 11, 2003 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com
eFilmCritic.com

Audience Reviews for The Order (The Sin Eater)

o dear what a mess of a horror movie!!
March 19, 2009
briandeguelle

Super Reviewer

It started by reminding me of the classic horrors of the 70's such as Don't Look Now and The Exorcist. The visual style and slow build up was all very nice. The build up continued for another hour before landing flat on its face. There seems to be so much talking and explanation that perhaps this would have worked better as a book. Instead it has some interesting ideas but no horror, thrills or anything vaguely interesting. Performances are good, though it's hard to tell with such dull characters. The film just about makes sense with evil demons, hooded men and...actually I'm not so sure it does all make sense. The most fun I had was spotting the eerie premonitions of Ledger's casting in Dark Knight such as a the light through a stain-glass window giving him green hair, and a scene where he is attacked by bats. OMG!
August 1, 2008
kiriyamakazou

Super Reviewer

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Latest News on The Order (The Sin Eater)

March 16, 2007:
"Premonition" Makes RT's "Worst of the Worst"
We all know good movies are hard to make, so you kinda feel bad when so many fail their lofty goals....

Foreign Titles

  • The Order (DE)
  • The Sin Eater (UK)
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