One Of This Years Most Unexpected Horror Hits Is Dominating Netflix

From the beginning, director Julius Avery fully leans into the silliness of the concept and its potential for silly fun. Rather than play into the tired trope of the man of the cloth that questions his faith, Crowe’s Amorth is exceedingly confident in his abilities, mocking the literal king of hell and saying God will make him win no matter what.  

Indeed, Crowe is not your typical exorcist, he cracks jokes, mocks the politics-obsessed cardinals by reminding them his boss is literally the head of the Church if they have a problem with him, riding around in his little scooter, asking for coffee everywhere he goes. Amorth is essentially the Spider-Man of exorcists, cracking jokes all the time in the middle of fighting a demon.

Russell Crowe has spent the last few years taking on pretty fascinating roles, and completely understanding the assignment. From “The Nice Guys,” to “Unhinged” and even “Thor: Love and Thunder” before this. He embraces the absurdity of these stories to the point where I now mourn the “Gladiator 2” movie we could have got with Crowe and based on Nick Cave’s bonkers original script.