I was really into this for the first two acts. It’s fun to watch this level of tension, and it felt like the film was in the middle of some great metaphors. But the third act just can’t reasonably sustain or conclude what the first two acts put towards, and the audience is cheated of real resolution.
In this case, I’m not sure how the film could be improved. Its first two acts are a perfect summation of our existing, conflicting political answers to difficult problems. Resolving that with a deus ex machina, as the film more or less does here, cheapens it. But there is no answer a film could provide that doesn’t feel far too easy and cheap.
The only solution, really, is to suggest that the system is entirely broken and should be scrapped. But this is a film about the Catholic church, so that’s off the table (and doesn’t make much sense in the context of the story).
Somehow, though, this is still easy to recommend as a thrilling piece of entertainment. Maybe that’s all this needed to be.