Erik Bates: “It ruled.”
While it felt somewhat derivative of an Angels and Demons, it was a good film with great acting. The struggle between the liberal and conservative sides of the church made sense but felt unrealistic in how it all played out.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.
− January 19, 2025 • more by Erik • log in or register to reply
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Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”
This is as good as you would expect from the caliber of talent involved: Well acted, smartly written, gorgeously photographed, and a solid character drama hiding underneath the structure of a mystery. Certain images were especially striking and will remain with me. Given its potential for intrigue and drama, I can't believe that a papal conclave isn't the subject of more movies. This is well worth seeing.
− January 15, 2026 • more by Scott • log in or register to reply
Scott Hardie: Without getting specific, I can acknowledge that critics tended to find the plot too twisty in a way that eventually became hard to take seriously, especially one particular doozy of a twist, which they considered at odds with the rest of the film being as realistic as possible. To my amusement, I feel like my fandom of ultra-realistic medical dramas like ER and The Pitt prepared me for this: Those shows nail the physical details of practicing medicine—seriously, on YouTube there's a whole cottage industry of doctors reacting to The Pitt's realism—but the writers still take a ton of license when it comes to selecting material; a TV doctor might see three bizarre and fascinating medical cases before lunch that a real doctor could go their whole career without ever seeing. I can totally accept that Conclave would take the same approach.This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − January 15, 2026 • more by Scott
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