A Catholic priest shields a woman from the mob. Trouble is; the mobsters in question are his family. And then the priest has more than a passing interest in the damsel in distress.
A quick ramble on Berenger: The guy is one of my favorite actors. Having gotten a good break in the late 70's and early 80's his career was going downhill already by 1986. Enter a fantastic performance in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (and an Oscar nomination), Berenger was suddenly on the A-list again. To play it safe; Berenger decided to work with established directors to further his career even more. He worked with Ridley Scott in "Someone to Watch Over Me" in 1987, did a solid film in Roger Spottiswoode's "Shoot To Kill" starring alongside Sidney Poitier and made quite a splash in Costa-Gavra's extreme political thriller "Betrayed" in 1988.
To close off 1988 Berenger played the lead in "Last Rites". Directed by Donald P. Bellisario, a veteran in television (creator of "Magnum P.I.", "Airwolf" and "Quantum Leap" to name a few) but hardly an established film director. I have no idea of Berenger's personal faith and whether he wanted to really stick it to Catholic priests; but I simply don't get what was interesting to begin with in "Last Rites".
The film opens well enough. A super sexy mobster gal, Zena (Anne Twomey), kills her husband (in quite a nasty way) when she catches him bedding another woman, Angela (Daphne Zuniga). Angela narrowly escapes and shortly thereafter goes to confession in Father Michael Pace's (Berenger) booth. As fate would have it; Pace is Zena's brother and therefore has direct ties to the mob. Pace decides to help Angela and keep his family from getting to her. He also starts to develop a sexual interest in Angela and eventually gives into his carnal desires. All the while the mobsters are closing in on them.
"Last Rites" offers up at least one miserable twist, a hopelessly boring middle section, some pathetic attempts at taking a stab at religion and an ending that takes far too long to reach it's predictable conclusion. Which is a shame 'cause it starts fairly well.
Berenger isn't all that believable as the tortured (and fairly weak minded) priest and Zuniga's legendary bad performance here probably ruined any further chances at a solid acting career. Plus her accent is horrible. Anne Twomey easily walks off with the film.
"Last Rites" probably hurt Berenger's film career. I don't think it's quite as bad as Roger Ebert labeled it (the worst film of 1988) but it certainly isn't good. Apart from "Major League" in 1989 and "Sniper" in 1993 (and a personal favorite is "The Substitute" from 1996), Berenger made more bad choices commercially speaking and his film career has never recovered.
A quick ramble on Berenger: The guy is one of my favorite actors. Having gotten a good break in the late 70's and early 80's his career was going downhill already by 1986. Enter a fantastic performance in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (and an Oscar nomination), Berenger was suddenly on the A-list again. To play it safe; Berenger decided to work with established directors to further his career even more. He worked with Ridley Scott in "Someone to Watch Over Me" in 1987, did a solid film in Roger Spottiswoode's "Shoot To Kill" starring alongside Sidney Poitier and made quite a splash in Costa-Gavra's extreme political thriller "Betrayed" in 1988.
To close off 1988 Berenger played the lead in "Last Rites". Directed by Donald P. Bellisario, a veteran in television (creator of "Magnum P.I.", "Airwolf" and "Quantum Leap" to name a few) but hardly an established film director. I have no idea of Berenger's personal faith and whether he wanted to really stick it to Catholic priests; but I simply don't get what was interesting to begin with in "Last Rites".
The film opens well enough. A super sexy mobster gal, Zena (Anne Twomey), kills her husband (in quite a nasty way) when she catches him bedding another woman, Angela (Daphne Zuniga). Angela narrowly escapes and shortly thereafter goes to confession in Father Michael Pace's (Berenger) booth. As fate would have it; Pace is Zena's brother and therefore has direct ties to the mob. Pace decides to help Angela and keep his family from getting to her. He also starts to develop a sexual interest in Angela and eventually gives into his carnal desires. All the while the mobsters are closing in on them.
"Last Rites" offers up at least one miserable twist, a hopelessly boring middle section, some pathetic attempts at taking a stab at religion and an ending that takes far too long to reach it's predictable conclusion. Which is a shame 'cause it starts fairly well.
Berenger isn't all that believable as the tortured (and fairly weak minded) priest and Zuniga's legendary bad performance here probably ruined any further chances at a solid acting career. Plus her accent is horrible. Anne Twomey easily walks off with the film.
"Last Rites" probably hurt Berenger's film career. I don't think it's quite as bad as Roger Ebert labeled it (the worst film of 1988) but it certainly isn't good. Apart from "Major League" in 1989 and "Sniper" in 1993 (and a personal favorite is "The Substitute" from 1996), Berenger made more bad choices commercially speaking and his film career has never recovered.