Starring: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, and Maggie Q
Directed by: Scott Charles Stewart
Written by: Cory Goodman
"To go against the Church is to go against God." If this is the case, then what is going against this movie? While Priest tries to be an epic thriller, it's easy to go against seeing it.
For as long as anyone can remember, humans and vampires (yes, vampires, but not the kind like in Twilight) have been involved in a seemingly never ending struggle with each other. Constant wars have forced humans into massive cities, protected by the Church, to stay safe, until they discover the power of a small group of warriors called Priests. However, during peacetime, they are not needed and must re-assimilate with the rest of the population.
Our hero's (Paul Bettany) name is never mentioned and is only called by his job description, Priest. His niece is captured by vampires, so it is Priest's goal to rescue her, even if it means going against his order with the Church. According to the Church, this is also going against God. But capturing these vampires turns into something greater than just for him. The vampires begin to pose yet another threat to the people of the mega cities. Will Priest save his niece and the city from the wrath of the vampires?
So I get that this is supposed to be one of those epic hero stories. This is pretty clear, but the question is what kind of hero story is this? It's not clear that Priest is driven by anything known to us to complete his unofficial mission. This film has many elements to it that could make it just about anything. Surprisingly though, it's most like a western. As a fan of westerns, Priest would be a terrible western. Why could it be a western? Most of the movie takes place in the middle of nowhere along a train route that takes these vampires straight into the city.
The story is not wonderful and at many points is rather stupid. Priest meets up with some people who will help him along his mission, but this is his mission, not theirs. So why do they meet up with him when he clearly doesn't need the help? There are also some plot holes. When Priest requests from the high council of the Church to go on this mission and they tell him that he will be stripped of his order if he goes, there do not seem to be any consequences from this.
Another problem is the color of the scenes. It's almost like watching a black and white film, but there is a little bit of color. There's too much saturation. Sometimes, films use this technique to set a certain mood, but there's no point to this in Priest because there's no mood that is set. It's just an emotionless, boring, action packed film.
There isn't really any point to seeing this movie unless you've read the graphic novel (something I myself have not done). It's not that entertaining and quite short for the kind of money that you pay at the movie these days. Watching Priest isn't as bad as suffering through Drive Angry which was released earlier this year. My recommendation, SKIP IT.
I have not much faith in Priest, so I'm giving it a D.
Directed by: Scott Charles Stewart
Written by: Cory Goodman
"To go against the Church is to go against God." If this is the case, then what is going against this movie? While Priest tries to be an epic thriller, it's easy to go against seeing it.
For as long as anyone can remember, humans and vampires (yes, vampires, but not the kind like in Twilight) have been involved in a seemingly never ending struggle with each other. Constant wars have forced humans into massive cities, protected by the Church, to stay safe, until they discover the power of a small group of warriors called Priests. However, during peacetime, they are not needed and must re-assimilate with the rest of the population.
Our hero's (Paul Bettany) name is never mentioned and is only called by his job description, Priest. His niece is captured by vampires, so it is Priest's goal to rescue her, even if it means going against his order with the Church. According to the Church, this is also going against God. But capturing these vampires turns into something greater than just for him. The vampires begin to pose yet another threat to the people of the mega cities. Will Priest save his niece and the city from the wrath of the vampires?
So I get that this is supposed to be one of those epic hero stories. This is pretty clear, but the question is what kind of hero story is this? It's not clear that Priest is driven by anything known to us to complete his unofficial mission. This film has many elements to it that could make it just about anything. Surprisingly though, it's most like a western. As a fan of westerns, Priest would be a terrible western. Why could it be a western? Most of the movie takes place in the middle of nowhere along a train route that takes these vampires straight into the city.
The story is not wonderful and at many points is rather stupid. Priest meets up with some people who will help him along his mission, but this is his mission, not theirs. So why do they meet up with him when he clearly doesn't need the help? There are also some plot holes. When Priest requests from the high council of the Church to go on this mission and they tell him that he will be stripped of his order if he goes, there do not seem to be any consequences from this.
Another problem is the color of the scenes. It's almost like watching a black and white film, but there is a little bit of color. There's too much saturation. Sometimes, films use this technique to set a certain mood, but there's no point to this in Priest because there's no mood that is set. It's just an emotionless, boring, action packed film.
There isn't really any point to seeing this movie unless you've read the graphic novel (something I myself have not done). It's not that entertaining and quite short for the kind of money that you pay at the movie these days. Watching Priest isn't as bad as suffering through Drive Angry which was released earlier this year. My recommendation, SKIP IT.
I have not much faith in Priest, so I'm giving it a D.
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