The Order

There appears to be some promising talent within the young Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon, but the two continue to make us wait for their breakthrough performances as they continue to sign on for mediocrity. The Order is an absolute mess of a film. Ledger in the role of a ghost-busting Catholic priest could have given this piece of work some camp value but it fails to produce even that level of entertainment, and The Order is unbelievably boring. Dumbed-down movies with no plot are one thing, but this script just makes no sense and has more holes than Swiss cheese. If you actually make it through this nonsense you will learn that while killing demonic spirits in Italy, Father Alex (Ledger) encounters William Eden, a very old man in a young body that eats the sins of the dying to give them a green light to heaven while he maintains his longevity. Briefly throw in escaped mental patient Shannyn Sossamon and some MTV-style edits and you have as strong a grasp on The Order as anyone who's actually sat through this forgettable film. The DVD is wise in keeping things light when it comes to extras, serving us the usual audio commentary from director Brian Helgeland, as well as some deleted scenes. These outtakes are not the missing pieces that give the film more sense, but there are some interesting numbers with full CGI effects, like a swarm of birds invading an old woman's home for no apparent reason. After being subjected to numerous takes of Heath Ledger bawling over a dead body, you quickly remember that The Order is crap, in case you forgot. Plus: theatrical trailer. (Fox)