Conclave: The Pope has died, and Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) must convene a Conclave of the College of Cardinals to choose a new Pope. A Conclave acknowledging not so much the guiding hand of God but the vanities of man.

Conclave features stunning visuals and competent acting, yet it is undermined by a script full of amateurish, contrived plot twists designed, supposedly, to advance the writers’ Robert Harris and Straughan’s feverish dreams of utopian Church doctrine rather than create a compelling narrative of suspense detailing the fallibility of man. After 120 minutes of an unending, stacked series of Deus ex machina plot devices, the fatigue reaches a smothering comatose level. Mercifully, the movie ends not with applause but with a resounding sigh of relief that your cinematic suffering is over.

Trivia: According to John Mulderig, under canon law in pectore appointments end with the pope’s death. Cardinal Benitez would not have been allowed into the Conclave.

Genre: Drama-Mystery-Suspense-Thriller

Directed by: Edward Berger

Screenplay by: Peter Straughan

Music by: Volker Bertelmann

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow

Film Location: Rome

ElsBob: 3.0/10

IMDb: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Critics: 93%

Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter: 85%

Metacritic Metascore: 79%

Metacritic User Score: 6.8/10

Theaters: 25 October 2024

Runtime: 120 minutes

Budget: $20 million

Box Office: $34.8 million

Source: Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, Metacritic.Catholic Review. Graphic: Concave Poster and Trailer, copyright Focus Features