Average Rating: 2.9/10
Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 52
A religious thriller that's more lethargic and silly than thrilling.
Average Rating: 2.6/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 12
A religious thriller that's more lethargic and silly than thrilling.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 21,718
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
Sep 5, 2003 Wide
Dec 30, 2003
$7.5M
20th Century Fox
All Critics (57) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (55) | DVD (4)
Devout Catholics will be appalled; everyone else will be asleep.
The picture is so lethargic that I began to think of watching it as a form of atonement.
It's The Exorcist warmed over.
May be the nadir of the subgenre that produced The Exorcist (at its high end) and Stigmata (at its middle-to-low end).
The movie would be perfect material for a resurrected version of the TV spoof Mystery Science Theater.
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.
There's little reason to watch this mess.
"The Order" is a halfhearted "supernatural thriller"%u2014interpret as not an actual "horror" movie...
It's long on atmosphere and whispered moments of creepy discovery.
This has to be one of the most inconsequential films dealing with religion ever made.
... it has a curious disorder, one that makes it both interesting and pallid.
It's preposterous, silly rather than frightening, and the performances and characterizations have a pot-boiler feel.
Frequently descends into unintentional hilarity, nervous camp, and eventually exasperation.
Includes a perfunctory director's commentary track.
As the movie's promotion intimates, 'There is a fate worse than death,' and you got it - it's sitting through this movie.
My dear Brian Helgeland, lack of originality is a sin. Eat it.
I order this movie back to the drawing board.
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.
What's The Order all about, you ask. Well, it's about 102 minutes, actually, which is a lot easier to explain than the absurdities of the plot.
...the movie makes little sense even for a guy more than willing to suspend his disbelief, as I was.
The Order preaches that "Sunflowers are a beautiful mistake, like you and me."
Blood in. Blood out. Eye roll.
From the casting to the plot to the monologues that come off sounding like SNL jokes, everything here is just plain sloppy.
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.
In what church is Heath Ledger a priest? And who are the nuns - Heather Graham and Tara Reid?
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
August 1, 2008Super Reviewer
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 94% | Moneyball |
| 59% | Real Steel |
| 50% | The Rum Diary |
| 92% | Take Shelter |
| 31% | The Human Centipede II (Full Seq... |
| 72% | Tiny Furniture |
| 95% | Elite Squad: The Enemy Within |
The Rum Diary, Take Shelter
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
The Vow leads record-breaking...