Summary:
Writer-director Brian Helgeland tried something different with The Order, and surely that counts for something. This brooding supernatural thriller was immediately dismissed by critics, and it's easy to see why it flopped: it's full of solemn, quasi-religious ruminations, it's murky in both visual and thematic content, and it demands the viewer's focused attention, which amounts to pissing in the shallow pool of big-studio filmmaking. And yet those qualities also give The Order some modest cult potential, as it tells the story of Alex (Heath Ledger, star of Helgeland's A Knight's Tale), a rebellious priest from an arcane fringe of Catholicism, who investigates the death of his excommunicated mentor and discovers the existence of a modern day "sin eater," capable of cleansing souls of evil, who has chosen Alex as his would-be successor. A troubled love interest (Knight's Tale costar Shannyn Sossamon) and an evil cardinal (Peter Weller) offer hope and damnation, respectively, but it's up to individual viewers to decide if The Order offers anything of lasting interest. --Jeff Shannon
