The idea of a Sin Eater is fascinating. The devil, in some twisted screw you to God, allows sinners outside the Catholic Church to rid their sins and enter heaven by having a Sin Eater eat the person’s sins.
In the beginning of the film, we meet a priest named Dominic (Francesco Carnelutti, EXCELLENT CADAVERS), who is the leader of an ancient sect of Catholicism, which searches for knowledge of all things, especially the supernatural. They fight ghosts and demons as well as look for Sin Eaters. That’s when William Eden (Benno Furmann, MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA), a Sin Eater, comes to visit. Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) and Thomas Garrett (Mark Addy, THE FULL MONTY) are the last of the Order and set out to find what happened to Dominic and where the Sin Eater is located. Along for the ride is escaped asylum patient Mara Sinclair (Shannyn Sossamon, THE RULES OF ATTRACTION), who has had a crush on Alex for years. Pulling the strings over Alex and Thomas’ mission is the Vatican’s liaison Driscoll (Peter Weller, ROBOCOP).
Brian Helgeland, who wrote and directed the film, is best known for writing L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and adapting MYSTIC RIVER, but his directing efforts include duds like A KNIGHT’S TALE (whose cast is recycled here) and PAYBACK. With THE ORDER, Helgeland tries to create a tortured anti-hero superhero on the lines of The Preacher or Spawn. The only problem is that the film plays the material too straight. The film has a slower dramatic pace, which makes the supernatural ideas seem out of place. Plus the writing at times is lazy with characters saying things that might as well have been directed right at the audience with a lead-in line of pay attention you need to know this stuff.
The other problem is that the film is kind of an origin story for a superhero franchise that will never happen. There’s no real character arch for the main character, Alex. The final Jesus-like pose of Ledger is kind of funny. There’s a good story buried within the film, but it’s lost in the execution. Helgeland had a smart idea when he came up with this film, but wrapped it in clichés.
The film must have had a small budget, because the effects look pretty bad. And what’s worse is the film had a delayed release in theaters in an effort to fix the effects which were previously worse than what finally appeared in the film.
I recommend this to people interested in the premise (which could easily be remade into a great film) only. All others should rent THE CROW for their tortured superhero fix or THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY’S BABY for religious supernatural scares.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
