Alex Bernier (Heath Ledger) is a priest and a Carolingians. The Dark Pope or Sin Eater can remove sin from anyone who can then go to heaven. This is heresy to the Roman Catholic Church. Mara Williams (Shannyn Sossamon) escaped from the asylum after shooting Alex during an exorcism. Alex and Mara go to Rome after the death of the Carolingian leader who was killed by the mysterious Sin Eater. Alex has to hunt him down with the help of fellow Carolingian Thomas Garrett (Mark Addy) under the command of Driscoll (Peter Weller).It's a rare thing to say but this movie needs more exposition. It's a mess of a story that somebody needs to explain to the audience. It doesn't work as a supernatural action movie either. Writing/director Brian Helgeland calls in his actors from 'A Knight's Tale' but this is a diametrically opposite movie. There are some silly looking stuff that are suppose to be seriously dark. None of it actually works.

These days, it's easy to see Heath Ledger's name on a film and assume it's going to be something special. Indeed, as a rule of thumb this formula is proved right more often than not. Sadly, though, The Sin Eater falls into the latter category – although it would be unfair to lay the blame at Ledger's feet. In fact, his turn is one of the few highlights of this movie. Another is the primary plot: a young, unconventional priest is sent by his Cardinal to the Vatican, where he is asked to look into the unexplained death of his friend and mentor. Along the way he uncovers evidence of the involvement of a "Sin Eater" – a figure from history who is said to offer an alternative route to redemption and therefore a path to Heaven which circumvents Catholic lore. It's a nice idea and it's given enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. There's a secondary story though, one of demons and exorcisms, and a tertiary one involving an unstable girl from the priest's past who forms the film's romantic interest. These appear extraneous and confusing, and require more explanation than the movie allows in its limited runtime. It's not a short film, but still it overreaches. The cast sees Ledger team up with Mark Addy and Shannyn Sossamon, and director Brian Helgeland, for the second time following their historical comedy A Knight's Tale. This plays less well than the 2001 offering. The usually capable Addy chews through some dubious dialogue with an even more dubious accent, yet still somehow salvages credibility. Sossamon's turn is somewhat superfluous, and the piece may have been better for her character's omission. Peter Weller makes a convincingly tough Cardinal, and Benno Furmann is suitably other- worldly as the supernatural antagonist. But the problems, for the most part, lay not with the cast: rather too much ground is made too soon, putting the viewer on the back foot from the off. The result is something that plays out like a sequel: it's taken for granted that we know the protagonists, when in fact we don't – and they remain strangers throughout. 2/5

I have been exposed to enough truth to not be offended by the anti-Catholic bias displayed in the film. Anyway, I wouldn't let something like that deter me from watching a Heath Ledger film that I missed. He was taken from us far too early, and one should partake of every example he gave of his acting skills.Be forewarned. This film requires you to watch and think. That leaves out a whole lot of modern moviegoers, and would explain why it was not a bigger film. It is also dark and moody, which leaves out those looking for scatological humor.Brian Helgeland wrote, produced and directed the film, and even brought Ledger, Mark Addy and Shannyn Sossamon from The Knight's Tale along with him. As they say in the film, they are the "Catholic Pete, Linc and Julie", solving a mystery surrounded by horror from Hell.If you like films like Stigmata, Lost Souls and The Omen, you will enjoy this one.

I bought this movie on DVD mainly due to the fact that it was only £3 and the synopsis sounded interesting. I looked up the movie on IMDb and after reading the reviews by others, I was not looking forward to watching it.However, I did watch the movie and was pleasantly surprised. The plot is strong, the acting is good and the direction is just right for the mood of the film. The atmosphere does meander between dark and light hearted, sometimes during the course of a single sentence, but it kind of works.Heath Ledger gives a solid performance especially considering that his character has many depths and motivations which sometimes clash.My only criticism would be that a lot of ground is covered story wise and there are many scenes and sub plots which could have been developed more given and extra few hours. There were occasions where I would be watching an important scene whilst pondering the previous one. Not necessarily a bad thing.All in all I feel this movie is under rated. It does require some concentration, and I would pause it if you have to leave the room, but it is enjoyable and intriguing and at the end I felt it was 98 minutes well spent.