“Priest” — based on the graphic novels by Min-Woo Hyung — is about a group of vampire hunters who have super powers to hunt and kill what turn out to be not your typical vampires, but ones that look like mutant dogs and roar like tigers.
The Priest (played by Paul Bettany) defies his superior by breaking his vows and goes after the group of vampires that kidnapped his niece, Lucy (Lily Collins). He is joined by Marshall Hicks (played by Cam Gigandet, of “Twilight” fame) and is soon joined by Priestess (Maggie Q). Karl Urban plays the first human vampire, who holds Lucy captive in hopes of getting the Priest to join him. He has an entire train loaded with vampires headed to the city for a massive feeding. The race is on to stop the train and save the girl.
Director Scott Charles Stewart delivers a visually-dramatic movie that takes place in a post-apocalyptic time where bleakness has overtaken the world. It was easy to tell when some great effect was going to occur, though, as it would become slow motion. This is a good effect once in a while, but it was overdone. I did enjoy the slow shot of where the Priest breaks his rosary and the beads drop to the floor and two beads land side by side, possibly suggesting he grew a set.
And while there are so many movies being done in 3D now that I often wonder if it really is going to help the film or is it to just get more people in to experience the shock of things being flung at you, in the case of “Priest,” I think it added to the film.
Although the film has a great look to it, “Priest” lacks depth of characters and needed more of a storyline. The movie runs 88 minutes long and I found myself wondering when the actual suspense was going to start.
The vampires were killed off too easily and their carnage was suggested more than actually shown, which was a little disappointing. The PG-13 rating toned it down enough that I found the feature lacking.
The finale was even a bit anti-climactic, but they did leave it open for a sequel. Who knows, if they do a sequel it might be one of the rare second movies that is much better than the first. If not, I really wouldn’t see the point in even trying.
“Priest” is playing in theatres now.
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