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Saturday, April 27, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD PRIEST 3D
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: **
It`s an old cliche - `money can`t buy you passion and those with passion mostly
don`t have money`. One of the best places to find proof of the same is
Hollywood, and a latest example is of its dystopian extravaganza
Priest.
Set in a futuristic parallel world where, after fighting vampires for centuries,
humans have finally won the battle with the help of the priests - a band of
fighters with special abilities and trained by the church to kill vampires.
Sadly after the final battle, priests have been disbanded.
When the family of a priest (Paul Bettany) living in the outposts of walled
cities, is killed and his niece abducted by the vampires, the priest defies the
church and goes searching for her with her lover Hicks (Cam Gigandet).
The visual landscape and the dysfunctional, dark world created for the movie is
spectacular and shows Hollywood at its best. However, the story lacks creativity
and a punch-line -- least expected from a cinematic adaptation of comic books.
The film, a jamboree of action, sci-fi and horror, is also full of cliches. Even
the little suspense comes as no surprise, and the 3-D enhancement of the visuals
fails to cover up the lack of a good story and writing.
The political metaphor of the film, coming at a time when it does, is not just
misplaced but also dangerous. The analogy of fighting `vampires` is like the US`
insistence on continuing its `War on Terror` where almost everyone living in the
`outposts` beyond its world, deserves either scorn or annihilation.
The little attempts it makes of showing Christianisation of humanity and the
importance of defiance against this `big brother` is also too less and far
between.
Director Scott Charles Stewart, once again makes a forgettable but visually
appealing extravaganza after The Legion, a department he seems to be
acquiring a notorious credibility in. Perhaps he should focus only on visual
effects of which he is clearly a master and not take up direction.
PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic sci fi thriller, is set in an alternate world -- one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest (Paul Bettany) from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece (Lily Collins) is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on an obsessive quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend (Cam Gigandet), a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess (Maggie Q) who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.
