Priest

Futurist film based on graphic novel series "Priest" by Min-Woo Hyung with interesting screenplay by Cory Goodman . After centuries of war between humans and vampires , the Church assigns warrior-priests to defeat the vampires . The survivors are kept in reserves and hives and the men live in chaotic cities governed by the Church . A rebel priest (Paul Bettany , Gerard Butler was originally cast) disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece (Lily Collins , Phil Collins's daughter) . His War is Eternal but his mission is just the beginning . The outcast priest sets out to look for his niece along with a young sheriff named Hicks (Cam Gigandet , though Steven Strait was originally cast) . Then , they encounter themselves chased by bloodthirsty , predatory vampires which have added them to his food chain . Sooner a warrior Priestess (Maggie Q) unites the Priest and Hicks in their quest . The duo along with the priestess must confront carnivorous mutants , hordes of warrior vampires starving of human blood and some of the most horrifying creatures ever made . At a hive the group is surrounded , as they encounter a pack of carnivorous , crawling creatures that are waiting for them , facing their destruction and exposed to cruel bites by meat-eating sickos and finally battle their deadly enemy , Black Hat (Karl Urban) . They undertake a desperate fighting to survive and chase a train to find his niece called Lucy (this is a throwback to the Dracula of Bram Stoker, where there is also a character named Lucy, who is also an engaged redheaded girl in need of saving) .

This exciting picture is set in a post-apocalyptic , an alternate world , one ravaged by centuries of battle between human and bloodsuckers , it contains thrills , chills , plot twists , action-filled with fierce fights and lots of gore and guts . The terror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized . The film turns out to be a crossover among several films , taking ideas here and there , resulting to be an entertaining movie . And of course the theme of people being stranded in a hostile , perilous environment with attackers creatures is justly reminiscent of many others films as Pitch Black , Pandorum , Descent or Resident Evil saga . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely fantastic to the bizarre along with an eerie and amazing frames . It's predictable but also its predictability is redeemed for some extraordinary surprises and in part by the charismatic acting from the main protagonists , Bettany and Gigandet . Furthermore a notorious secondary cast as Christopher Plummer , Brad Dourif , Stephen Moyer , Alan Dale , Madchen Amick , among others . The flesh-eating mutants appearance deliver the goods, plenty of screams, shocks and tension. The make-up assistants and visual effects artists create the truly terrible cannibal vampires , adding spectacular frames in 3D . Horrifying and astonishing images about eerie events and creepy scenarios are colorfully photographed by Don Burguess , and including luminous scenes from a futurist desert . Thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Christopher Young , an expert on dark atmospheres . The motion picture was well directed by Scott Charles Stewart , a visual effects specialist and who previously made a similar flick titled ¨Legion¨ . Rating : Acceptable and passable . Worthwhile watching .

Visual effects developer-turned-director, Scott Stewart, delivers his second supernatural action film that claims to be "adapted" from the comic book "Priest". Supposedly based on a Korean comic or "manhwa" of same name, the movie "Priest" has NOTHING to do with the original, not even the name of the squinting "strong silent type" main protagonist played by Paul Bettany. Fallen angels, deal with a demon, multiple time frame story lines and all other interesting elements of the original be damned. And perhaps it was for the better since the manhwa's multiple story lines taking place in the Crusades, the old west and the future would just confuse the heck out of everyone.

So they crafted a whole new premise to appeal to the superficial summer action lover. And the one thing they did right was to give us vampires that do not sparkle in the sunlight. These vampires are all teeth and claws who swarm across the world at night attacking from giant hives, a clear reference to the "Aliens" franchise. These savage beasts have been at constant war with mankind since the dawn of time. A beautifully bloody animated prologue sets the back-story of the film about how mankind's salvation came in the form of the Priests, holy warriors who battled the vampire hordes to near extinction.

This story revolves around one of the veteran priests who lives among the other downtrodden human inhabitants of a walled dystopian city ruled by the now totalitarian church. When he receives word that his niece was abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, the priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out of the city and rescue her. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a young trigger-finger wasteland sheriff. But as the duo soon discover, reports of the vampires' return have been greatly understated. With a powerful yet familiar threat is leading the newly reformed vampire hordes, the wayward Priest and his companion must fend off supernatural foes and contend with a group of fellow Priests sent to hunt down their rogue brother.

"Priest" is one cliché storm of a film that commits the cardinal sins of a paper thin plot and forgettable characters thanks to the inexperience of first time writer Cory Goodman. The characters are so forgettable that the writer never even bothered to give many of them names. Paul Bettany's main character is just called "Priest" (It is not his name by the way). There is also "Black Hat" (because he wears a black hat) and "The Priestess" (because she is a female priest) just to name a few. They are less like actual characters and more like blank character archetypes thrown in for plot convenience. Archetypes like Cam Gigandet's hot headed Sheriff Hicks (a second reference to Aliens perhaps?) and Lily Collin's damsel in distress Lucy are just as forgettable even though they do have names.

Failing to provide interesting characters or a good story, the least the producers could do was to deliver a holy hell load of violence with a hard R or M18 rating. Sadly the animated prologue has more blood and guts than the entire film combined since most of the gorier battles take place in darkness or amid dust. The Fights are well choreographed but they tend to be more stylish than practical and sometimes border on illogical. For example, a duel on a high speed train is awesome but none of the combatants ever thought of kicking his opponent off the side? But despite these failings of the flesh, some salvation comes to "Priest" in the form of an excellent production design. From the dark cyberpunk inspired Church city to the post apocalyptic western towns dotting the hostile desert lands, great attention had been paid to make those places as believable as possible. Perhaps most memorable would be the tech on display in the film which includes futuristic motorcycles, tricked out shotguns and the Priests' arsenal of deadly cross-themed blade weapons.

Beyond the props, flawless visual effects and startling CGI, the movie tries as well to inject its narrative with deeper subtexts. The Priests themselves call to mind stories of War veterans who were shunned by society and unable to re-integrate, a theme made most famous in "Rambo: First Blood". The film also makes fun of how some churches twist their religion into a means of control, the hypocritical "holier-than-thou" attitude of modern Christians and their single minded belief that they remain "saved from evil" as long as they worship God. It is not intentionally "anti-Christian" or "anti-catholic". It is more of a clever satire but there will always be the more conservative ones who would cry sacrilege.

At only 87 minutes long, Priest moves at a brisk pace and at the very least it is not boring. It would no doubt entertain action junkies and fans of post apocalyptic thrillers although more time could have been spent developing the characters or delving into the underlying themes that were addressed. Priest is spectacular but soulless, with a nice looking "body" but barely enough "blood" and "spirit" to satisfy the more sophisticated movie goer.

6.5/10 Rounded down to 6

Love the actors, the concept, the genre, the fight scenes, and i want maggie Q to have my baby....but this movie was only so-so.

It needed a better script i think. The story just seemed hollow. Everything they did, just seemed half finished. Paul, who i thnk is awesome, didn't seem to resonate with any of the other cast. It really was like this movie needed another hour to develop itself and them it would have been great.

Worth seeing, if you like action movies, but sadly, your not going to remember this movie by next month.

If you like a good scifi western, see serenity.

dark, dramatic, decent mixture of religion, vampires, not bad acting, impressive fight scenes and special effects. and, maybe more important, a realistic story, the presence of Paul Bettany and Urban being useful ingredients for a film who gives the expected scenes, emotion and fascination.

I saw this at the theater when it was released theatrically and I have been a fan ever since. I actually have grown more fond of this film with repeated viewings. Anyways, Priest is a very enjoyable and slick looking comic book styled action/fantasy movie that is a futuristic sci fi vampire western. Combining elements from Blade, Star Wars and the classic western, Priest is awesome and such delivers big time in the butt kicking department. This is set in a futuristic parallel universe where humans and vampires are engaged in an eternal war and battle for domination. In this retro futuristic society, the church runs the show and as such religion, government and industry are one. The vampires are faster and more agile then humans and humanity's only advantage is the sun. They are blind, insect like monsters that are vicious cgi critters that the priests must fight off with their special vatican style of kung fu. Priests are highly skilled holy warriors, similar to jedi knights, except their power comes not from the force, but the big man upstairs. This is done pretty well and the acting and storytelling are solid. Paul Bettany was excellent as the lead here, his delivery on his character is heavily influenced by Clint Eastwood and he pulls it off quite well without it coming off forced or cheesy. Bettany does well as action hero and is accompanied by Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer and Karl Urban as villain. As a whole I found this quite enjoyable and even though I much favor practical f/x, this is a total cgi fest. Even with that as a factor, the film comes off as a pretty fresh take on the vampire genre with great action and is well executed overall. Even though this is a PG 13 action film, the film is pretty violent considering and is much darker in tone than most PG 13 fare. Although, Priest plays as pretty unique it is not afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve and if you are a fan of westerns, Blade and Star Wars, Priest is the movie for for you and in my opinion Priest is much better than the Star Wars prequels.