Simply Perfect

Nice effects though.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I think Paul Bettany does well in solo hero movies but this time around, I felt they could have made him the vampire here and it probably would have clicked better than it actually did. The "soldier vampires" here look very evil and also there's a particular scene where they attack a family that live in isolation at an outpost - probably the scariest scene in the movie. Everything else about the movie didn't really hold my attention as most of the battles between the priests and the vampires seemed too rely too much on effects or were too illogical. Paul Bettany and Karl Urban do well but one wishes their action sequences had more punch - their final confrontation scenes were average. Cam Gigandet is more or less wasted in his role as a sheriff and Maggie Q(who shined in Die Hard 4) also gets a forgettable character here. Brad Dourif as a untrustworthy salesman is the only performance worth any mention here, although his role is short. Verdict - an OK vampire movie with at least some jumpy moments but not enough to make it a good horror fest. I wonder now why all these popular stars signed up for this.

dark, dramatic, decent mixture of religion, vampires, not bad acting, impressive fight scenes and special effects. and, maybe more important, a realistic story, the presence of Paul Bettany and Urban being useful ingredients for a film who gives the expected scenes, emotion and fascination.

Priest (2011): Dir: Scott Charles Stewart / Cast: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins: The title stands for good from a spiritual standpoint but its delivery is laughable. Based on a comic book that is about as little seen as Jonah Hex, It regards humans as an endangered species thanks to a losing war against vampires. Thankfully Priest fighters are able to kill them. Director Scott Charles Stewart and star Paul Bettany both collaborated on the dimwitted Legion, which also dealt with spiritual themes that aren't exactly Biblical. Bettany fares better here as a warrior Priest out to save a young girl from an army of vampires but it all winds down to a lot of excessive violence and blood shed that nobody cares about. Karl Urban as the villain Black Hat is an embarrassing sight. He dances about as his minions commit deadly acts, then he appears ominous under the shadows of that hat as if we're suppose to be intimidated. This guy is about as intimidating as Elmer Fudd. Cam Gigandet is another sorry sight as a Sheriff who accompanies Bettany and basically gets in the way. Maggie Q plays a females Priestess out to warn Bettany that he disobeyed orders. Her prime function is to fight and look cool doing it. Judging from the film she is in then that may be a challenge. Lily Collins is also featured and hopefully regrets it. The special effects are the ticket as hideous monsters jump out and attack only to get blown away. The Biblical references are warped at best but then again, nothing in this film will warrant any reward for screen writing or originality. Score: 3 ½ / 10

Set some where in what appears is a post apocalyptic future after a war between vampires and humans has ended in an apparent victory for the humans through the use of a vampire fighting sect of the church called Priests. Once victory seems achieved the Priests are no longer needed and are discarded, placed in very menial jobs if they can find anything at all. Just like the history of the Catholic church of our world. One surviving Priest disobeys the edicts of the church when his brother and his wife are slaughtered in a vampire raid and his niece, oops his daughter, is stolen. She is stolen to do just what has occurred. Turns out a Priest has been turned by a queen vampire. Another Priestess joins him and stops a train full of vampires and larvae(?) by blowing it off the tracks. This wipes out the vampire threat for now. In the end, while the church hierarchy ignores the threat, the remaining Priests get the word out and are to meet at a certain point. Will there be a sequel, I hope so.