Friday, May 13, 2011

Movie Review - Priest

Priest

Starring: Paul Betany, Karl Urban, Can Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plumber, Alan Dale, Madchem Amik, and more....

Premise: After a very long war almost destroys the world those living on it, peace is achieved at last. Unfortunately those who brought this peace about are set aside as antiquated tools. Yet the war against those who live in darkness might not be as finished as previously believed.

Review: Loads of actors/actresses I enjoy were in this sucker! I hadn't realized how many till we were watching the film. So that was cool.

Story begins with a punch then we get some background in the form of animation as to the thousand years plus war, which actually fit quite well, especially since the film is based on a Korean comic of the same name. (From the info I read about the comic, however, the movie strayed way off the path.)

Lovely dystopia setting. With the world mostly ruined, most of humanity now cowers inside walled cities run by the Church.  Pollution is everywhere. What little we see of everyday life there paints a bleak existence. The sidewalk confessionals manned by armed guards spoke volumes. Worse, your confession session is presided by a pre-recorded and prompt edited session with Mosignor Orelas rather than a real, caring human being.

Though they bandy the word vampire all over the place, these are not your usual undead. These vamps aren't human, but a whole other race. They even ooze a goo they use to build hives and are born from a queen. We get to see a large hive and vampire eggs and other things, so we do get a little depth on these others. The creatures themselves were also nicely done.

The towns and outposts out in the wastelands have a hard western feel to them. I kept thinking I was shifting from Firefly to Blade Runner and back again. Not saying it's a bad thing, just stating the flavor they used.

The cycles the Priests and the Sheriff use kick buns! And I loved the train. (You'll know it when you see it.) The Priests also have some cool toys for combat that were a lot of fun.  One particular fight with blade extending cross shaped shurikans were kick-ass.

All sorts of possible plots strings are thrown out there, giving depth and the tingle of possibilities and things to come...except...they don't end up using most of them. The ending was also rushed. Closure was not really given to several items. And some of the attitudes displayed by those in power, even with proof, didn't make much sense. (Actually several things didn't make sense - like why did they even have camps for the vamps if they were abominations?) I kept getting the feeling that there was more coming on several subjects but they never came.

So while off to a great start and decent middle, the end and wrap up were not as satisfying as they should have been.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's rating: Matinee pricing)

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