The Man from Rome

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Greetings again from the darkness. It appears as if Catholicism has gone high-tech! Of course, with that comes the risk of being hacked, and that's how this film from writer-director Sergio Dow begins. Based on the 1995 novel "La Piel del Tambor" ("The Skin of the Drum") by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte, the list of those with a writing credit includes: Adrian Bol, Beth Bollinger, Gretchen Cowan, Carolina Lopez-Rodriguez, Sheila Willis, and Luis Zelkowicz, Yes, so while the premise is appealing, it's likely too many fingers in the writer's pie created the tangled web that prevented this one from reaching greater heights. Richard Armitage stars as Father Quart, the best Priest-Investigator the Vatican can offer. Mr. Armitage performed admirably in a couple of Harlan Coben limited series, "Stay Close" and "The Stranger", and he has a unique and quietly compelling screen presence ... and probably very few other actors could come across as somewhat believable in the role of Priest-Cop. Still dwelling on a tragic error in his last case, Quart is sent to Seville, Spain where a 17th century church has been the scene of some recent unexplained deaths. Upon arrival, he learns the church is also a key element in a family squabble related to a pending land development deal. Macarena (Alma Salamanca) and her mother Duquesa Cruz Bruner (Fionnula Flanagan, dropping her familiar Irish brogue for a Spanish accent) are self-funding the church renovations, while Macarena's estranged husband, the ambitious and unscrupulous Pencho (Rodolfo Sancho) is pushing for the razing of the church so the large development project can proceed. Also included in this battle are Gris (Alicia Borrachero), who is the church's architectural restorer, Monsignor Spada (screen veteran Paul Guilfoyle) pushing Quart to close the case, Padre Ferro (Paul Freeman), the Priest from the small church who believes Quart is the bad guy, Padre Cooey (Carlos Cuevas), a Priest with other-worldly tech skills, and the always great Franco Nero who plays the Pope in a couple of scenes (interesting that he also played a different era Pope in Russell Crowe's recent thriller, THE POPE'S EXORCIST). The deaths occurring inside Our Lady of Tears church may or may not be mysterious, but what is clear pretty quickly is that greed and corruption are quite prevalent in this situation. The film opens with Father Quart offering his own personal confession, and this is meant to convey that he really is a good guy (not a perfect one) looking for answers ... not a lackey sent to get the high-dollar deal closed. The film is at its best when Armitage is on screen, yet the story might have benefitted from a deeper dive into the corruption aspect. These days, a money-laundering scheme is the preferred scandal for the Catholic Church, and it's kind of humorous to think that the Vatican might have a bullpen of programmers wearing Priest collars as they cyber-protect the Church. There are some fight scenes that aren't particularly well-staged, although the work of renowned Spanish composer Roque Banos is a highlight, as are the beautiful locales. We are left feeling like this could have worked best as a limited series on Netflix. Opening in theaters and On Demand June 30, 2023.

Well, I sat down to watch this with fairly low expectations, given some of the reviews I had seen from various media outlets. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a lot more watchable and interesting than I expected. Richard Armitage is always good value and he has plenty of charisma onscreen. The supporting cast did a good job, too. Sure, the script was a bit clunky in places, but the plot was quite interesting and it moved at a decent pace. The locations in Seville and Rome were beautifully shot. The natural light made them look stunning, actually. So, don't take all the bad reviews at face value. It's not a great movie, but it's quite good and certainly not a waste of your time to watch it.

source: The Man from Rome

source: The Man from Rome

The locations in Rome, Italy and Sevilla, Spain are beautiful along with many of the buildings they use. It has some well known actors like Richard Armitage, Paul Guilfoyle, Franco Nero and Fionnula Flanagan and Carlos. Cuevas, the rest of the cast were ok. The script is a mess, too many subplots, boring main plot and boring dialog. Reminded me of 1950s European films that depended on beautiful settings because the script was garbage. Writers, directors and producers think using beautiful filming locations will make up for a poor script, it doesn't. Kissing a bishop, archbishop, cardinal, pope's ring hasn't existed for many decades, shows that the writer didn't research it. I wonder sometimes if these types of scripts are written over a booze or drug filled weekend.

The locations selection are pretty good. Pretty buildings, areas, churches and hotels. So definitely a good job there. The script kept me on my seat, but the characters seem a bit weak (which I guess is tricky when making a script from a book). Some things of course could have been better, including some dialogues. But for me the two things are: spoken languages. Since the movie was in Spain and Italy, I would expect the actors to talk more of those two languages, rather than English. The selection of the American nun was weird to me, as her accent was Spanish. Good actress. But I imagine they have to go by the book. In this case, I would leave the part that she's 'American' out of it. The fight scenes could be slightly better. Like the choreography and sounding. But not bad nonetheless. But overall, good cast and movie. I enjoyed it. And it intrigued me about possibly taking a look on the book.

I love Richard Armitage, but the Spanish actors are really bad. Particularly A. Salamance is intolerable. All in all, this is a wannabe thriller that has nothing but predictable cliches to offer. The church and politicians are both corrupt and filling their coffres on the back of the poor, but oh so faithful Catholics. Include unimaginative camera takes, shallow dialogue and poor motivation to act for the main character (no stakes at all) and you have a movie that is really boring as hell, if you do not happen to be into 18th century architecture, that is. I only gave it 4 stars because I really do like Richard Armitage.

The locations in Rome, Italy and Sevilla, Spain are beautiful along with many of the buildings they use. It has some well known actors like Richard Armitage, Paul Guilfoyle, Franco Nero and Fionnula Flanagan and Carlos. Cuevas, the rest of the cast were ok. The script is a mess, too many subplots, boring main plot and boring dialog. Reminded me of 1950s European films that depended on beautiful settings because the script was garbage. Writers, directors and producers think using beautiful filming locations will make up for a poor script, it doesn't. Kissing a bishop, archbishop, cardinal, pope's ring hasn't existed for many decades, shows that the writer didn't research it. I wonder sometimes if these types of scripts are written over a booze or drug filled weekend.

source: The Man from Rome