Hands down the best thing about this movie was Stellan Skarsgård's performance. He brings a great level of believability in the midst of so much fluff. We can see that he is a troubled man, marked by an experience during WWII that I would not wish on anyone, ultimately causing his loss of faith. The thread focusing on Merrin's faith is most interesting, reminding me a bit of Mel Gibson's character arc in Signs. The growth he goes through and the revelations he has, are represented wonderfully. Other than that, there are no other terribly impressive acting performances. This is demonstrated perfectly by Ben Cross' character, Semelier, a pointless character that leads nowhere and features a horrendous make-up job. The script is generally dull and uninspired, and is probably good to take much of the blame for the movie.

I can't remember the last time I saw such bad CGI in a major release. The effects are awful, in most cases they don't mesh with the real backgrounds, or vice versa, the live action with the inserted backdrops. Hyenas with glowing eyes, swarms of flies, nothing works, it is just plain bad, none of it looks natural. The CGI enhanced possession looked like a reject from Evil Dead 2. Again, combined with a story that has no focus, doesn't know if it is a dramatic thriller, or a gore filled horror film. That lack of focus doesn't give us anything to identify with, it just serves to distance us from the tale.

The base story is interesting, but there was enough meddling done to take away any hope of a good film. While not ultimately worthless, it could have been a lot better. I could go so far as to say, if not for Stellan's performance, it wouldn't even be worth seeing. Still, for the most part, I would not recommend seeing this, although it is probably a bit better than The Order.
Not Recommended.