Movie Review: Exorcist IV The Beginning

This was a fantastic movie for one hour and twenty-seven minutes...unfortunately the movie played for twenty minutes longer. Stellan Skarsgard was wonderfully cast as Father Merrin and I was very impressed by his performance. This is an actor with chops. Too bad he was let down by the script and direction for the magnum opus.
Look, we all know the story of Father Merrin in Africa and his Exorcism of an eight year old boy...what we got here was the equivelent of Mel Gibson deciding to have Mary Magdalene crucified at the end of the Passion instead of Jesus.
Another example of the folly of Hollywood. A total disregard for the source material...This film was beautifully shot, with excellent acting performances, but crippled with poor CGI (those hyena were horrendous) and an unjustified and subpar final act...
Too bad for you Stellan...I look forward to seeing you as Hrothgar in Beowulf and Grendel where hopefully your considerable talents will not be wasted.

On a scale of 1-10 this film rates a 6, though with a better ending could have scored an 11.
Bastards.