100 movies: Priest

comments 11
100 movies of 2012

PriestPriest (05/02/12)

A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece.

Priests tracking down vampires on jet propelled bikes. Something about that’s meant to be quite exciting and cool and provocative. But all it is here is just that.

We’ve got another sci-fi film with a dystopian future where religion’s gone all do wacky and we’ve got a crazy mix of uber futuristic stuff, your ol’ west and a bit of a Chinese influence thrown in for the hell of it.

While Priest doesn’t add anything new to add to the sci-fi/future-western/vampire genre it didn’t waste it’s time getting going with the plot. Thankfully, I don’t think there’s a moment ‘wasted’ on un-needed dialog or scenes. Everything is to the point. So that means the film skips along to it’s end in a very gracious 84 minutes. So it’s an easy watch. I didn’t get bored. Though I wasn’t thrilled. It’s just ok. Nothing stood out. I don’t know if they were trying to make something of the whole religion aspect of it, but it clearly didn’t come across to me!

Perfectly watchable and perfectly forgettable. Was fine for a snowy afternoon.

(Oh and after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, my second Alan Dale film of the year!)
Rating: 2/5

Read on to see all the films watched this year…

7 Films so far this year

  1. The Tourist 1/5 (02/01/12)
  2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 5/5 (03/01/12)
  3. World’s Greatest Dad 2/5 (14/01/12)
  4. Haywire 3/5 (19/01/12)
  5. Dead Snow 3/5 (20/01/12)
  6. The Artist 5/5 (21/01/12)
  7. Priest 2/5 (05/02/12)

11 Comments

  1. I do like a good vampire story but I do think the character has been done to death recently. I’m always thinking of Kathryn Bigelow’s brilliant Near Dark and wondering just how good the character can be when filmmakers dare to step outside of tradition.

    • I keep meaning to make an effort to see that.

      I think vampires need to be left alone for a good long while.

  2. I’m normally a fan of Paul Bettany’s projects, but this one really didn’t interest me. I love your description of the film as a mashup of all those different genres. Can’t say I’m too disappointed for not giving this a chance.

    • Paul Bettany’s done some stinkers recently – Priest, The Tourist, Legion. Though Margin Call looks a much better film from him.

  3. Yea this looked mediocre from the start so it’s not surprising. There would be a time when I might have given this a watch just for fun but now, I don’t feel like time is to be wasted on bad movies ahah

    • I think I’m not quite past that time. For some reason, I’m a glutton for punishment with mediocre films. I used to be like that with TV, but I’m slowly beginning to change and cutting the fat out! Here’s hoping I get that way with my film watching habits!

  4. TWO?? LOL. I’d like to know how it earned the extra point over the bullet. LOL

    😀 It was a suckfest and you call it such. I’m just giving you crap for not calling it a super-suckfest!

    • I know, I know – maybe I was a little over generous! But I gave it the second star for being mercifully short. Under 90 minutes!

      Least they didn’t waste any time. It was a suckfest, but a watchable suckfest. For me.

      Give me crap! I will take it and one day throw it back at you 😉

      • 😀 Thats what its all about! Well, at least one of the things its all about.

        Not a lot of crap anyways… its not like you gave it a 4 out of 5 or something.

        And youre right. “Hey, at least it ended quickly” is a plus in this case!!

    • I remember having a vague interest when it was out in the cinema. Just for a bit of mindless fun. Mindless yes. Fun… not so.

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