The Order (The Sin Eater) (2003)

9% of critics liked it
(57 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(21,947 ratings)

Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger portrays a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians. He's sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians, whose body was found with… More Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger portrays a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians. He's sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians, whose body was found with strange marks on its chest. While in Rome, he asks for help from an old friend (Mark Addy) and an elusive artist Shannyn Sossamon to help solve the murder. The priest ends up at the Vatican, where he learns of a sect that may be responsible for many mysterious deaths. Peter Weller and Benno Fürmann round out the cast. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 42 min.
Directed By: Brian Helgeland
Written By: Brian Helgeland
Genres: Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Sep 5, 2003 Wide
On DVD: Dec 30, 2003
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Devout Catholics will be appalled; everyone else will be asleep.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The picture is so lethargic that I began to think of watching it as a form of atonement.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
It's The Exorcist warmed over.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
May be the nadir of the subgenre that produced The Exorcist (at its high end) and Stigmata (at its middle-to-low end).
Jonathan Foreman, New York Post
The movie would be perfect material for a resurrected version of the TV spoof Mystery Science Theater.
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News
A supernaturally silly drama about priests, exorcism, sin-eaters and Heath Ledger struggling with such pious problems as how to keep his fake Euro accent in place.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
There's little reason to watch this mess.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
"The Order" is a halfhearted "supernatural thriller"%u2014interpret as not an actual "horror" movie...
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's long on atmosphere and whispered moments of creepy discovery.
Bill Clark, FromTheBalcony
This has to be one of the most inconsequential films dealing with religion ever made.
Mark Collette, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
... it has a curious disorder, one that makes it both interesting and pallid.
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)
It's preposterous, silly rather than frightening, and the performances and characterizations have a pot-boiler feel.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Frequently descends into unintentional hilarity, nervous camp, and eventually exasperation.
Kurt Dahlke, Apollo Guide
Includes a perfunctory director's commentary track.
Kurt Dahlke, Apollo Guide
As the movie's promotion intimates, 'There is a fate worse than death,' and you got it - it's sitting through this movie.
Martin Scribbs, Mixed Reviews
My dear Brian Helgeland, lack of originality is a sin. Eat it.
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel, 3BlackChicks Review
I order this movie back to the drawing board.
Todd Gilchrist, FilmStew.com
A miserably dark and sluggish picture to endure. Helgeland and his stars have hopefully observed last rites on this and moved on to bigger and (especially) better things.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
What's The Order all about, you ask. Well, it's about 102 minutes, actually, which is a lot easier to explain than the absurdities of the plot.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
...the movie makes little sense even for a guy more than willing to suspend his disbelief, as I was.

Read all 25 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Brian D

o dear what a mess of a horror movie!!
Luke B

It started by reminding me of the classic horrors of the 70's such as Don't Look Now and The Exorcist. The visual style and slow build up was all very nice. The build up continued for another hour before landing flat on its face. There seems to be so much talking and… More
It started by reminding me of the classic horrors of the 70's such as Don't Look Now and The Exorcist. The visual style and slow build up was all very nice. The build up continued for another hour before landing flat on its face. There seems to be so much talking and explanation that perhaps this would have worked better as a book. Instead it has some interesting ideas but no horror, thrills or anything vaguely interesting. Performances are good, though it's hard to tell with such dull characters. The film just about makes sense with evil demons, hooded men and...actually I'm not so sure it does all make sense. The most fun I had was spotting the eerie premonitions of Ledger's casting in Dark Knight such as a the light through a stain-glass window giving him green hair, and a scene where he is attacked by bats. OMG!
Stephen M

As the one half conjures up excruciating boredom and the other breathless excitement, the term 'religious thriller' is an oxymoron. I wasn't expecting much from this and it didn't disappoint, but I'm surprised how quickly it is fading from my memory,… More
As the one half conjures up excruciating boredom and the other breathless excitement, the term 'religious thriller' is an oxymoron. I wasn't expecting much from this and it didn't disappoint, but I'm surprised how quickly it is fading from my memory, considering I only watched it last night. It's not awful, just mediocre. The cast is fine but the story stinks. Demonic children pop up for no other reason than to create a bit of cheap atmosphere, and to provide an excuse for some CGI effects.
Dean L

I didn't hate this movie. I really thought that I would, but I didn't. The acting is a bit shallow and the character development is very lacking and the plot line is thin (as well as some trite , overused, stolen lines, ie Nietzsche: "Sometimes when you look into the… More
I didn't hate this movie. I really thought that I would, but I didn't. The acting is a bit shallow and the character development is very lacking and the plot line is thin (as well as some trite , overused, stolen lines, ie Nietzsche: "Sometimes when you look into the abyss it looks back into you." and they didn't even have the good sense to quote the man), but still I could not hate this film. Why? Because it brought up some real brain food for me. It speaks to the Church's influence over not just this realm, but the realm beyond and how angered they might get by having thier authority undermined and circumvented. Therefor, in my mind, it speaks to the dangers of institutionalized religion (a subject near and dear to my heart). There are some cool special effects and scenery and, quite frankly, despite the fact that I would have liked knowing the characters a bit more intimately it did not detract from the point of the film. Witness the Sin-Eater...and I will stop there so as not to be a spoiler. If you are looking for a thriller with a few moments of horror/thrill (nothing too gory though not for the kids), some nice twists, and something to think about if you are open to it then you might want to consider this movie as a rental.
Lady D

Known in the UK as Sin Eater. A dark, deep film which was quite hard to follow. I had read about a Sin Eater before in a novel and so had some interest. Heath Ledger shows some great acting in one particular scene, but for me, this only start to warm up slightly about an hour in
Dean M

This strange film is like <i>Omen</i> meets <i>The Exorcist</i> fiasco. Heath Ledger is hilariously miscast as a priest, but not even Max Von Sydow could bring conviction to this unholy mess.
Megan S

whatever. there was a bunch of hokey demonic special effects and that was about the extent of the excitement, cept for Heath Ledger being hot.
Emily A

Not enough people have seen this movie. For shaaaame. In all honesty, the dark underbelly of Catholicism is a scary thing and a great subject for a horror movie.
Cameron J

Oo-oo-oo Siiiiin Eatah. I believe you can get me through the ni-oh, sorry, I went 70's there for a second. But enough about a great music generation, let's discuss a great movie... some other time, seeing as "The Order" is certainly not one. Though Ledger puts on a… More
Oo-oo-oo Siiiiin Eatah. I believe you can get me through the ni-oh, sorry, I went 70's there for a second. But enough about a great music generation, let's discuss a great movie... some other time, seeing as "The Order" is certainly not one. Though Ledger puts on a good performance, it's the lack of immediate development and engagment, bad directing, underwhelmingness, poor visual effects, forced development and above all, terrible writing that stand out the most and leave "The Order" to be an embarassing "thriller".
Alice S

To place a Medieval mystery in modern days would have been a great achievement. Too bad the movie doesn't seem to understand the needs of a mystery, its delicate structure. The grotesque of the caricature ridicules the whole story, which otherwise would have been interesting to… More
To place a Medieval mystery in modern days would have been a great achievement. Too bad the movie doesn't seem to understand the needs of a mystery, its delicate structure. The grotesque of the caricature ridicules the whole story, which otherwise would have been interesting to follow.
Constanza B

Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger represents a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians, sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians.The priest ends up… More
Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger represents a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians, sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians.The priest ends up at the Vatican, where he learns of a sect that may be responsible for many mysterious deaths.
Marcus W

Irredeemable bilge. Very very bad.
Robert F

Interminably boring. Too much yap yap, not enough sin eating. Shannyn Sossamon seemed totally out of place in the film, and I'm yet to see her in a role that she doesn't sleepwalk her way through. Heath Ledger fans probably shouldn't watch this either - it's not a… More
Interminably boring. Too much yap yap, not enough sin eating. Shannyn Sossamon seemed totally out of place in the film, and I'm yet to see her in a role that she doesn't sleepwalk her way through. Heath Ledger fans probably shouldn't watch this either - it's not a film you want to remember him by.
Chosen 7

Decent film, good performances by Benno Fürmann and Heath Ledger.
Ina S

What the?
Miriam K

Pretty lame. Heath Ledger just can't act in my opinion either. Too bad as I can see this movie had a bit of potential.
Leo L

One of my all-time favorites.