The Order
(aka: The Sin Eater)
(Fox Region One DVD)
(2003)
review by Head Cheeze

Only Brian Helgeland could jump from Academy Award winning projects to brutally lambasted critical and commercial failures with such unrelenting ease. This, after all, is the man whose pen brought us acclaimed works like L.A. Confidential and Mystic River, only to balance them off with cinematic dreck like The Postman and Assassins (and, dare we forget, Nightmare on Elm Street Part IV: The Dream Master...shudder...). Helgeland hasn't had much more luck when he's in the director's chair either, seeing that his one solid outing, Payback, was supposedly hi-jacked by Mel Gibson in an attempt to make that film grittier. So what's a bi-polar sort like this to do following the critical and commerical popcorn flick, A Knight's Tale? Well, make a supernatural religious thriller, of course!

The Order (also known as The Sin Eater) is the story of Alex Bernier (Ledger), a young Carolinian priest (that's the name of his mysterious order, not his home state) who discovers that his mentor's died in Rome under somewhat suspicious circumstances-confirmed by a visit by a high-ranking Vatican official (Woods) who advises Alex to follow him back to Vatican City. When Mara (Sossamon), a young woman who Alex once performed an exorcism on and has since fallen in love with, shows up with concern for Alex's safety, she hitches along for the trip to Rome. Alex discovers that his mentor was actually the victim of a Sin Eater-an ancient being who has the power to absolve the dying of their sins when the Catholic church will not. As Alex, Mara, and Alex's order mate, Garret (Addy) get closer to the Sin Eater (Fürmann), Alex begins to see paralells between himself and the being, and his faith in the church is put to the ultimate test.

The Order is a really crappy movie for the first 45 minutes or so, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, it redeems itself as a rather fine piece of supernatural hokum that actually grows to be quite intrigueing. I'm not huge on Catholic mythology, but the concept of the Sin Eater is an interesting one, and, once the film gets the requisite Religious Horror 101 stuff out of the way, the film takes on an entirely different approach more akin to Jacob's Ladder than the cheezy Exorcist/Lost Souls rehash it starts out as. I really enjoyed the interaction between Chris Eden (the Sin Eater's mortal name) and Alex, as well as the very surprising twist in the film's final act.

It's a shame the first half of the movie is such a dull, plodding, and confusing mess! Still, it's not unwatchable stuff, just uninspired until Helgeland's inspiration seems to smack him on the side of the head and things get interesting. I literally found myself saying something akin to "Wow, when did this get good?!"

The DVD from Fox features very nice widescreen anamorphic transfer, as well as a scant few extras, including a lively commentary by Helgeland, deleted scenes, and a trailer. It's pretty slim picken's, but them's be the breaks.

The Order is a film that, if you're able to make it through the dull and cliche ridden first half, you are rewarded with a very decent film in the end. This isn't too hearty of an endorsement, but it's hard to recommend half of a film with any kind of conviction. Just the same, once things in The Order get in...err..order, it's not half-bad.

Too bad it's not half-good either.