In Iraq 2010, US troops uncover something dangerous. It's 2013. NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) investigates a series of disturbing crimes with his partner Butler (Joel McHale). He's married to Jen (Olivia Munn) with a daughter. Jesuit priest Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) is fighting the evil and Sarchie joins in to investigating a group of returning marines.

The movie sets up a good dark murky NYC. Eric Bana is good at being the brooding intense guy. Joel McHale is the wise-cracking sidekick. Surprisingly, he muscles up and gets into a few fights. Filmmaker Scott Derrickson has zeroed in on the dark moody style. However the movie slowly loses momentum. The tension fades. Instead of intensifying the excitement, it get muddled exorcism talk. Also, Butler seems to be replaced by Mendoza. It would probably be better to keep Butler inside the group. It's a lot of darken rooms and jump scares. The movie never finds the next gear.

In New York, Police Officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) and his partner Butler (Joel McHale) investigate a series of bizarre crimes in Bronx: the death of a baby in an alley: the beating of the wife of the former soldier Jimmy (Chris Coy) by him; and the case of a mother, Jane Crenna (Olivia Horton),who has thrown her two year old son in the enclosure of the lions in the zoo. While investigating the last case with Butler, Sarchie sees a weird man painting the wall of the lion's enclosure but he flees. Soon the man is identified, Mick Santino (Sean Harris),and Sarchie learns that Santino and Jimmy belonged to the same platoon in Iraq. The investigation affects the private life of Sarchie and his relationship with his wife Jennifer "Jen" (Olivia Munn) and his daughter Christina (Lulu Wilson). Sarchie, who is a Catholic that lost his faith, is contacted by the unconventional Father Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) that explains to him that he is dealing with demonic forces and Santini and Jane are possessed by demons. The skeptic Sarchie does not believe in the father in the beginning, but when his family is jeopardized by Santino, he teams-up with the priest to exorcise Santino and save his beloved family.

"Deliver Us from Evil" is a creepy and dark exorcism movie directed by Scott Derrickson from "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Sinister". The movie is scary, with dark cinematography and excellent music score by The Doors. Eric Bana has good performance in the role of a cop that fight against his own demons, but the performances of Sean Harris (from "Harry Brown") and Olivia Horton are impressive in the role of possessed persons. The plot is well constructed and flawless. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Livrai-nos do Mal" ("Deliver Us from Evil")

If you haven't guessed it, this is another exorcism film...which is real, but isn't. The film starts out as a a number of different tales. A group of soldiers go into an Afghan (?) tunnel only to find... We then switch to Special police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) who uses his radar to select certain cases. He gets involved in a domestic dispute, then an odd scene at the Bronx zoo, only be followed by a family who claims their house is haunted. As he gathers evidence, everything ties to together leading of course to the expected climax with Father Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) named for the Mendoza line.

Sarchie has wife issues who claims, "Even when you're here you're not here." Ouch! What guy hasn't heard that one before. I believe that is something they teach girls when they split us up into those special separate classes. I wish they had worked on the dialogue. Also the film was a bit long. They needed to take out 10-15 minutes.

What I really liked about the film is that the demon is a big fan of Jim Morrison and quotes him while the film plays Doors music.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.