‘The Rite’ and ‘The Mechanic’ Are Plodding Clichés, But ‘Kaboom’ Explodes With Sexiness
Peter Travers is still wading in the deep end of terrible January movies. The worst of the bunch this week is The Rite, a new horror film starring Anthony Hopkins that “plods along unearthing clichés with a sense of real discovery,” as if its director Mikael Håfström had no idea that he was basically just ripping off The Exorcist. The Mechanic, a movie about a hitman played by Jason Statham, is only slightly better, though it’s just the kind of “action flick you watch with the forgiving gaze that comes from too many beers and too little sleep.”
The one bright spot this week is Greg Araki’s new film Kaboom, which Travers calls “an erotic blast of sinful flesh, fun and fantasy.”