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THE MAN FROM ROME
Director: Sergio Dow Cast: Richard Armitage, Amaia Salamanca, Paul Guilfoyle, Paul Freeman, Fionnula Flanagan, Carlos Cuevas, Alicia Borrachero, Rodolfo Sancho, Victor Mallarino, Will Keen, Franco Nero MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:00 Release Date: 6/30/23 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | June 29, 2023 A movie about a gun-toting priest, working for and given a dispensation of his clerical vows by a top-secret office of the Vatican, probably shouldn't be as dull and formulaic as The Man from Rome. Here we are, though, with a movie that's inherently silly—and initially promising because of it—but that refuses to even acknowledge that fact. Instead, screenwriters Carmen López and Sergio Dow's adaptation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel The Seville Communion takes itself with dread, unconvincing sincerity. It's little more than a spy mystery that just happens to revolve around the inner workings of the Catholic Church, and even though its set itself up as a subversive takedown of the intrinsic corruption of any institution as large and powerful as that one, the movie's cardinal sin is that it's simply, thoroughly boring. Our hero is a priest named Fr. Lorenzo Quart, played with a steely gaze by Richard Armitage (in what might be the strangest unofficial audition for the role of that most famous of British spies, because it seems as if every actor with eyes on that part looks for a character broadly like this one whenever there is or is about to be a vacancy in the double-o department). Quart is a military veteran with an unspecified and tragic past, who turned to the clergy to find some solace and peace. As it turns out, though, the Vatican also runs the Institute of External Affairs, which is basically its branch for intelligence and covert operations. Quart has since become its most trusted and reliable of agents. Does such an organization exist? A cursory investigation into the subject reveals that it probably doesn't, but isn't that what they'd want one to believe? It hardly matters, anyway, because the notion of the equivalent of a Catholic CIA or MI6 is almost too juicy to ruin with something as pesky as reality. Unfortunately, Dow, who also directed, and López's script does enough to ruin the imaginary appeal of the idea, anyway. Some of the other mostly unconsidered but more believable gimmicks of this plot include the Vatican's IT department, which must deal with expert hackers trying to access the personal laptop of Franco Nero's Pope (the second time he has played a pope this year, which is an oddity for the trivia books), and a considered focus on a real estate deal having to do with one of the Church's many properties. The plot proper begins immediately with a hacker sending a message directly to the Pope, hoping that he'll look into a church in Seville that has become the source of multiple controversies. One of them is that an executive at one of the largest banks in Spain wants the old church condemned and razed so that the land can be developed for business. The banker's wife Macarena (Amaia Salamanca), a descendent of a noble family, wants to save and renovate the building, because her ancestor built it and is buried there. Oh, there's also a rumor that the church is killing people. Two have died in freak accidents or "accidents" in as many months, so Quart, carrying an attaché case with some gizmos and a couple of pistols, flies on a private jet from Rome to Seville to find some answers to the deaths and what should be done with the church. It's all quite ridiculous, indeed, so it's quite the shame that the movie becomes little more than a large cast of generic characters—various priests and bishops, an nun/architect (played by Alicia Borrachero), some hitmen and bankers, and, hey, Macarena's duchess mother (played by Fionnula Flanagan)—offering theories and plenty of exposition. The plotting is theoretically elaborate, in that it involves corruption and ill deeds from various angles and parties, hidden identities and motives, and a scheme to cover up multiple matters of questionable finances and abuse. As it plays out here, though, it's an unfocused mess that infrequently stops for Quart to chase, be chased by, or get into fights with some goons. The filmmakers seem to forget all of the mysteries they've established by the end, leading to an epilogue that rushes to give us all the answers—most of which are to matters that we likely have forgotten. For a movie with such a strange hook and so much business, The Man from Rome says and does so very little as to exist barely as a throwaway thriller. Copyright © 2023 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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