neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The Order
	Brian Helgeland Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Mark Addy, Benno Fürmann, Peter Weller 2003		Brian Helgeland won a screenwriting Oscar for his adaptation of James Ellroy's novel "L.A. Confidential." Then, Helgeland wrote and directed "A Knight's Tale," a droll, anachronistic romp through the Middle Ages that presented jousting knights as the rock stars or pro athletes of their era. Neither film suggests that Helgeland could produce anything as dreadful as his murky, incoherent, pseudo-religious horror movie, "The Order." How dreadful is it? It's more like "The Ordure" or "The Ordeal" than "The Order." As if to emphasize its shortcomings, "The Order" reunites Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon and Mark Addy, three stars of Helgeland's far superior "A Knight's Tale." Ledger sleepwalks though "The Order" as a renegade priest from a secret sect that combats paranormal threats. He looks into the death of his mentor and learns of the Sin Eater, an immortal being who absolves dying people of their sins by literally wolfing down the evil. M-m-m, bad. But the priest's quest to unravel a conspiracy within the Church and confront the Sin Eater is undermined by his profane love for a suicidal artist (Sossamon). With a misused Benno Fürmann ("The Princess and the Warrior") and Peter Weller ("Naked Lunch").