**A film good enough to watch once or twice, but not more.**
The universe of horror films about demons, and demonic possession, now seems to be a little overloaded, and the lack of capacity for creative ideas, or those that justify yet another film, invariably leads to the emergence of some bizarre things. This is the case in this film, where Dr. Ember, a man who has psychic powers and can project outside the body, fights the devil directly, going to meet him and helping the soul of the person he is trying to deceive.
Don't get me wrong: the film has its merits and entertains its audience in a pretty decent way. As a horror film, and despite never scaring anyone, it achieves the necessary tension to work and is able to maintain it throughout the action. I just found it bizarre, but that's a matter of personal taste and not a defect. Let me develop: by placing at the center of the action a psychic who uses rational and scientific methods to combat Evil, I felt that the film tried to take a “scientific approach” to demonic possession and, perhaps, reach a wider audience, those skeptic who does not so easily believe in the effectiveness of religious rituals. I could be wrong, but that was the feeling I got.
After that, the script introduces more things and, then, there are more serious problems: did anyone really buy that whole story about Dr. Ember already knowing that demon and chasing him for years? A personal crusade? Seriously? And does anyone really believe that the Catholic Church is going to call in a scientist because they think their rituals won't work? The film ends with an attempted twist that we see coming from miles away.
On a technical level, the film doesn't really have much to present to us: most of the aspects that we usually appreciate are almost all within the standards of common popcorn cinema, which we watch without thinking much about and forget about five minutes after finishing. Cinematography, sets, costumes, editing, filming… everything is up to standards. There are no major errors nor any particular merit. The visual effects and CGI team is a different case: there are some well-achieved, albeit discreet, effects, especially towards the end.
The cast is one of the film's strong points: Aaron Eckhart did a decent job, but what he does is quite far from the best he's ever done in cinema. He is a solid, charismatic and competent protagonist, but he does not have material capable of imposing demands on him and forcing him to make additional efforts. Carice Van Houten (who became particularly famous after her work on the series “Game of Thrones”) is convincing as the anguished mother of the boy targeted for possession, but despite this, she is very underutilized. Catalina Moreno, who I met in “Maria Full of Grace”, at the beginning of her career, does interesting work and provides welcome support.
