The Reckoning

Turns out the promiscuous priests sundering the Catholic church today come from a long line of randy religious types. Set in 14th-century England, The Reckoning follows fugitive priest Nicholas (Paul Bettany) on his wayward journey from respected man of the cloth to adulterer to traveling actor alongside friend Martin (Willem Dafoe). When the troupe reaches a village in which an innocent woman faces execution for murder, they stage her story for the townspeople to help decode the mystery. (Reading beyond this point merits you death by flogging.) You can’t fault Bettany, who gives a spirited performance, or Dafoe, whose creepy thespian practically earns the film’s R-rating alone. But the story is duller than a third-grade production of Hamlet, and the serious lack of violence, car chases, and crack smoking leaves The Reckoning a few altar boys short of a party.