Dominion: A Prequel to the Exorcist -- 2005 -- R

We've recently had two Exorcist prequels grace our presence, and a short bit of research reveals that they both came from the same source, one in response to the other (as opposed to the "things come in pairs" philosophy). Basically, the studio that funded the prequel made this one first, rejected it as "unmarketable" and then commissioned a script rewrite and got them a ne director for Exorcist: The Beginning which was released in 2004. When that one flopped, they went ahead and allowed this one to be released. I hope they at least made their investment back, because there's mot much of redeeming quality here.

The original film makes a reference to Father Merrin performing an exorcism on a prior occasion and his love for archaeology. This film takes those elements and makes a story out of them so that we can see Father Merrin in action before he performs the exorcism in the original 1973 film. One begs the question "why?", but moving on from there, what we have is a film that deals with our good Father losing his faith and finding it again through the activities of the film.

The plot follows Merrin supervising a dig somewhere that an ancient church is found buried in the sand of a desert. They find that it is a perfectly preserved buidling probably having been buried shortly after construction, and to make matters more interesting, it isn't setup like a church honoring God, but like something built to keep something else in. They discover a sacrificial chamber under the church, and are intrigued. Yeah, that's about as good as I got to describe that. Normally, it's "and that's where the fun begins" or something like that, but it isn't. No, they find this chamber and move on with their lives. Nothing happens.

In fact, very little of dramatic value happens throughout the majority of the film. We occasionally get something to try and move us, but life returns to normal so quickly after each moment that they become non-moments with no lasting impact. One provided a nice throwback to our Father Merrin's past, but it was also quickly let go.

To me, this was a very boring movie, and who knows? Maybe I didn't get it. I wartched about half of it one day, and I was so disinterested, I had to force myself to finish it. Eventually, something occurred near the end, but by then, I tired of waiting to see if anything of interest was actually going to happen ever in this movie. Although we got more and more dramatic moments the closer we got to the end, it never really took hold of me to engage me into the storyline. I enver found any connection to the characters or their situations to the point that I could even think I missed something.

I find myself in agreement with the Morgan Creek execs: it does feel rather unmarketable...or better said: boring.