PRIEST (2011)

Paul Bettany - the new poster child for the Vatican.

Being that today is Friday the 13th doesn't help a movie like Priest, which definitely could have used any help it could get. Priest however, is the first movie that I've seen this year where I'm unsure how to rate it. While Priest undoubtedly has some cool moments, I'm not sure what exactly it's trying to do. If anything, one could predict that the film is nothing more than a prologue for what Screen Gems is hoping will be a successful franchise. However, after seeing the first installment, I'm more than doubtful we're going to be seeing Priest 2 anytime soon.

Paul Bettany (Legion) plays Priest, an unnamed man who's set out to save his daughter from the vampires - who since the dawn of time have been terrorizing man and forced them into barridcaded cities run by the church. Previously, Priest was a warrior for the church who used him as a means of forcing all the vampires onto reservations. Once Priest was finished the job, the church then returned him to the status of a normal man - forced back into a regular, drab life (and feared by many).

In order to save his daughter, Priest teams up with law man Hicks (Cam Gigandet) and former fellow vampire hunter, Priestess (Maggie Q). The three of them head off across the post-apocalyptic desert in search of the man who's responsible for the kidnapping - Black Hat (Star Trek's Karl Urban). One can argue that with the names these characters carry (Priest, Black Hat) this whole plot may be lacking imagination, and you wouldn't be wrong. The names are actually a perfect indication of just what to expect in Priest.

When The Matrix was released in 1999 (followed by the sequels in 2003), it was clear the films had a religious undertone. In Priest, the religion is under-toned by The Matrix. There's actually very few action sequences in the film that won't remind you of a Wachowski way of things. There's even a scene that takes place on top of a moving train that's incredibly similar to the semi-trailer fight that took place in The Matrix Reloaded. It's not just The Matrix either, you'll find bits and pieces of almost every movie that relates to post-apocalyptic futures, religion, vampires, etc. within this film. Maybe that's the problem with Priest, just as the character names are unoriginal - so is the plot within reference to any original devices. Also, if the barricaded church city isn't a blatant rip-off of 1984, than there's a huge coincidence at hand.

When it comes down to it, Priest gets a closed door. Most people I spoke to after the movie really only had one thing to say about it - "It was alright...". Is something that's just alright worth the $10-14 you'll pay to see it in 3D? Not at all, really. In fact, when it comes to the 3D in Priest, it's a decision that should have been rethought (as is the case with many recent 3D flicks). There's far too many badly lit scenes in the film that being forced to use a pair of 3D glasses only makes it harder to see whats on the screen. Then again, in a film like Priest - maybe it doesn't matter as you ain't missing much anyway.

* Stills courtesy of Screen Gems

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THE BOOK OF ELI (2010)

Some friendly elderly folk are happy to "meat" Eli.

A wise man once said the pen is mightier than the sword. Don’t ask me who, I don’t know and I don’t care to look. For The Book of Eli, it is certainly is nothing less than true. The movie starts off with a man of faith (Denzel Washington) who is simply ‘traveling’ west to a place where he knows (for no other reason than knowing) that the book he is carrying will be safe from the hands of the bandits and murderers that roam the roads of this post apocalyptic land.

Along the way he stops through a western-esque town to get his battery charged for his first gen iPod (perhaps the only thing keeping him sane anymore) and he runs into trouble a local bar where the only thing more valuable than your life is the water it serves. The bar is run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who has his thugs go out on month long road trips plundering and killing to look for one special, un-named book. Since the public school system has been out of whack for a good 50 years by now, they of course can’t read and end up bringing him back novels and O magazines, basically every book they can find. One does have to suppose at this point Eli is carrying the book Carnegie is looking for.

Soon enough that fact is confirmed and now it’s on between Eli and Carnegie, who will stop at nothing to get Eli’s book. Knowing what the book is worth to Eli, and believing in his journey, Carnegie’s sorta step-daughter, Solara (Mila Kunis) decides to help Eli on his quest and accompanies him as he escapes (rather easily) the clutches of Carnegie and his pirates. Needless to say it’s not long before Carnegie catches up to the duo and the real war begins.

Washington and Oldman play extremely well off each other, so much so I would like to see them work together again, their moments are some of the best in the movie). Mila Kunis you know is on her way, and after this and 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it won’t be long before she’s the star of her own movie, perhaps one that’s good enough for Oscar consideration. There’s a quietness and a patience to the movie that gives it that western feel I mentioned earlier, which is believable in the world as it’s set up, and it’s no doubt that if the world was to come to an end, society would come full circle where resources and luxuries like shampoo are things you learn to live without. It’s also never really explained why the world came to be the way it was, and that was refreshing. The last thing Eli needed was flashbacks of people jumping through the sprinklers on a fresh, green lawn.

This movie is extremely entertaining though and it will undoubtedly get lost in the current Oscar buzz and probably end up not making as much as it could have. As for the 2011 Oscars, I wouldn’t count out Washington or Oldman, although it is far too early to tell. The door is open to this post apocalyptic adventure, although watching it in the theatres won’t be too different an experience than watching this one at home, besides the magic that going to the theatre does seem to still have (should you allow it to).

*Stills courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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