Priest

      There is a huge debate these days about what a “good” vampire movie is.  There is also a lot of competition out there, even some spoofs.  If you look on line there are a variety of lists about what the best vampire films of all time are.  There are duplicates on these lists of course and they really don’t vary a whole lot.  This happens to be a genre I really enjoy and I have seen my share of vampire movies, most of the ones on those lists as well. 
      Priest (2011) is just another vampire movie; I guess that is what some would say. Like Van Helsing (2004) Priest is an adaptation of a comic book character.  Boy we love those comic book movies these days don’t we? It even starts out with very comic looking drawing to tell us how the story began and bring us up to the present. 
      Paul Bettany (A beautiful mind, A Knight’s tale, The Tourist, Firewall) plays the Priest, his character doesn’t even have a name, he is just Priest.  The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.  After centuries of war between the humans and vampires the humans feel they have finally won and there is peace.  The Priests were the warriors during war time.  Once there is peace they are of no use any more and kind of become the outcasts of society, not to be spoken to.  Well, of course, the peace doesn’t last or there wouldn’t be a movie. Paul Bettany, the warrior priest, has a brother who is living a happy life with his wife and daughter.  That is until the vampire’s come and his daughter is kidnapped.  Hicks, played by Cam Gigandet (Never back down, Easy A, Pandorum) comes to the Priest for help in rescuing Lucy, the Priests niece. 
      I loved this movie! There are so many reasons I enjoyed.  The script was really good.  There are twists and turns and a few surprises in the storyline.  The CGI (Computer-generated imagery) or special effects, are very cool.  There are some awesome fight scenes and even a few unusual characters. I love the different ways movies portray vampires this one was pretty unique.  The setting reminded me of the Mad Max (1979) movies, futuristic and old west at the same time.  There is even a huge train scene at the end!
       In short, Priest may be just another vampire movie but if you like dark, exciting, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, vampire, comic book movies. Which I happen to love.  You just may like Priest.