Priest

Starring: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer, Alan Dale
Directed by: Scott Charles Stewart
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A priest (Paul Bettany) goes against the church when he decides to leave the walled city to hunt down a clan of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.

Review:

Tim: Paul Bettany desperately needs to get away from Scott Charles Stewart. Stewart is a young, inexperienced director- but he's also pretty awful. He ruined the brilliant idea behind Legion (and Bettany suffered, despite being the best part of that movie). Things get even worse here. Stewart manages to outdo himself, directing a lifeless, redundant, joyless movie. There was almost nothing of any real value in Priest. The whole movie was silly and pointless. Stewart is one of my least favorite directors right now.

The whole movie seemed incredibly weak. The script was basically a rehash of a dozen other movies. Some people have claimed this is a completely original vampire movie. From the minute the movie opened, I felt like I had seen it all before. It was just so lackluster. I never cared about the movie for a moment. The animated opening didn't help, which felt disjointed from the rest of the movie. Things didn't get much better from there, as the plot is incredibly formulaic, giving off that "seen it, been there before" vibe every step of the way. The movie never gives the audience a reason to care.

I mostly forgave Bettany for his role in Legion. That movie was a massive disappointment, but I could see the appeal. He doesn't get that same grace here. Working with Stewart on that film could be forgiven, but Bettany's out of excuses. He is such a terrific actor- I don't know why he's squandering his career on these forgettable trash movies. He deserves better, and so does the audience. Bettany isn't exactly terrible in the role, but he's not very exciting, either. He doesn't really come across as a believable action hero, and I felt like something was missing from his performance. He had to know the paycheck would be the best thing about this movie, and that leaks into his performance here.

I do want to mention Karl Urban. I was very impressed with Urban- he manages to be an extremely cool, memorable villain in an otherwise forgettable mess. Urban definitely hammed it up a bit, but he just looked so cool with his cowboy hat, and was a very interesting villain. I immediately liked any scene with him at least 45% better than the ones without. His performance isn't enough to elevate this disaster, but he was very fun to watch.

The supporting cast wasn't very good. Maggie Q continues to make me wonder why anyone casts her in a movie. Has she ever been really good in a role? None that I can think of. Christopher Plummer is inexplicably cast in a movie miles and miles beneath him. He should have known better. The rest of the cast isn't even worth mentioning.

I should comment on the fact that I really wanted to like Priest. I like action vampire movies, and I appreciate any movie that touches on religion, no matter the context. Marrying these together was a good idea, and might have worked had the movie been better. Still, it was fun to watch. I had convinced myself Legion was going to be good, so my mouth might still have a bad taste from that film. Despite my efforts, I couldn't like this movie at all.

That being said, I will comment on the best part of the movie. The film features a pretty exciting and occasionally beautiful climax on the train. There are some incredible shots of the train barreling through the desert, kicking up dust, while people ride alongside on motorcycles. There's a good battle on top of the train, and some impressive slow motion shots as well. These scenes don't save the movie, but they do elevate it to a certain extent. They were really, really cool, and very well executed. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is bogged down with silliness.

Priest is not a good movie at all. I blame Scott Charles Stewart the most. He might be a strong digital effects guy, but he's a weak, weak director. I wish Hollywood would take note, but I doubt they will. I felt like this movie wasted my time.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Legion