Priest

Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Priest. Directed by Scott Stweart. Written by Cory Goodman. Based on the graphic novel "Priest" created by Min-Woo Hyung.

Review #118

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Runtime: 87 min

Cast

Paul Bettany - Priest

Karl Urban -  Black Hat

Cam Gigandet - Hicks

Maggie Q - Priestess

Lily Collins - Lucy Pace

Brad Dourif - Salesman

Stephen Moyer - Owen Pace

Christopher Plummer - Monsignor Orelas

Alan Dale - Monsignor Chamberlain

Mädchen Amick - Shannon Pace


There has been a lot of buzz and promotion for this movie. I would have bought in hook, line and sinker save for 1 very BIG detail.

Scott Stewart.

If you recall, he was the man responsible for 2010's Worst Film of The Year. Legion. That movie was SO BAD that I couldn't fathom how he got another chance to direct another film. Then I remembered that we are dealing with Hollywierd. They don't play by the rules of the sane. For every crappy film that's made, there's a studio just ready and willing to throw money away to the people responsible for making said crappy film.

Which leads us to Priest. Early reports were positive but I still refused to avoid the 800lb gorilla in the room. I couldn't get too pumped up knowing who was behind the lens. The only thing that gave me a moment of pause was that Priest was a film being adapted from a popular graphic novel series. Even then I didn't get too excited because we all know how bad comic book movies can be when placed in the hands of the incompetent. So was this a step up for Mr. Stewart?

Yes.

Plot 


Set in a post apocalyptic world. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

Right out of the gate, this film has a lot going for it. Starting with the back story. Like most films of this genre, instead of fleshing out the full history of the comic's universe, they just provide a cliff notes version then go straight to the action. A good portion of the time this tactic does more harm than good. With Priest, they were able to split the difference between both methods. You got a good enough back story without dragging you down into a story coma.

What followed was a straight by the numbers action/adventure flick. You get absolutely nothing new or fresh here. But for some reason it works. A lot of that can be attributed to Paul Bettany's performance as Priest. He channels his performance as the Archangel Michael with a little bit of Anakin Skywalker after he turns to the darkside. The Skywalker reference is mostly because of Priest's brooding demeanor. He walks around with a disposition of a war torn soldier living in a world that both respects and fears him. His look is also very Jedi-esque. Priest's robes and hooded cape instantly remind you of Jedi Knights or Sith Lords.  Priest is a very troubled man that struggles to hold on to his faith while controlling his combative urges.

Speaking of combat. Priest does a pretty good job in that department. One major change to the vampire universe here is that the vamps are more of the mindless creature variety than a human with fangs. This gives Priest the chance to showcase why he's labeled the greatest warrior the world had against these unholy villains. The fight scenes were pretty good considering Priest wasn't fighting any "human" adversaries until the end. Sadly it's that fight that was very underwhelming and unimpressive. It was poorly edited and failed to capture any emotion with the exception of the obvious one you'll feel when the time comes.

The remaining cast wasn't stellar but they were serviceable. I did get a kick out of Stephen Moyer's character. For those of you who don't watch True Blood on HBO. He plays Bill Compton. The main vampire character of that show and here he is in a vampire movie playing a human. Insert ironic joke here.

The story of Priest is like I mentioned before as vanilla as you can get but you get the point. Normally I would have been screaming by now for more plot development but the pace is smooth enough that you don't need to have this drag out. They also did or actually didn't do some things here that is considered status quo for films of this ilk. Perhaps this is due to the actual source material or maybe a condensing of many story ideas. From what I understand the book series is rather long so there are many opportunities for expansion. If handled well this has the potential to be as successful as the Blade series if not better.

On the 5 star scale. Priest gets 3.5 stars with a "Go See It" recommendation.

Has Scott Stewart been vindicated for Legion? No. He will NEVER be forgiven for that unholy mess (pun intended). He has however gotten off to a good start attempting to get the awful taste of that film out of my mouth.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Pirates of The Caribbean : On Stranger Tides.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"