Priest (SPOILER ALERT)

Thanks to Nuffnang Malaysia, I got preview tickets to Priest, starring Paul Bettany (PB, or Mr Jennifer Connelly, whichever you prefer). I was already in the line for seats around 7.35 p.m. and the 20 minute wait seem to take forever. At least I wasn't first in line - that would be sad. Just not as sad as I was when the first couple of people in line got first dibs on the movie merchandise and they made off with the pair of slankets (which makes sense, seeing as robes ARE worn in the movie). Oh well. As I was like the 6th-8th person in line (I didn't bother counting the number of people in line ahead of me this one time); I made off with a utility knife (it was that, or a USB hub :P), hahaha.

It wasn't just Nuffnang, FlyFM also had theirs at the same time.

When I saw the gadget holding counters (laptops, phones, etc) in the lobby, I didn't think too much of it as I thought it was for some other movie (which is not uncommon). Learnt it wasn't the case the hard way - I got stopped and had to line up once to let them seal the phones into a plastic bag, and uncle, his laptop, at another counter. I knew that it's not out Stateside yet, but seriously...?! Well okay, it's been awhile since I've had to go through this much security at a preview screening (the last time? when I still had a camera-less phone - it was that long ago), so fine. I also found out that it was just for the Priest preview screenings because the kids doing the bag checks and wand-waving said so when I asked. The Nuffnangers probably should've said something when I collected the tickets, that you need a little time to do all that before going in.

Official movie synopsis:

"A legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece 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, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills."

And a trailer...



Actual movie thoughts after the jump! (Also spoilers)

If you did a quick Wikipedia search, Priest is actually based on the eponymous Korean manhwa. And that the release of this movie has been delayed several times, the last time to redo it in 3D (urgh). So if you're sick of seeing certain people, it's not really their fault that there seem to be a string of movies with them in it.

• You never hear PB's character's given name the entire movie; he kept answering to "Priest" or "Father".
• Meta vamp reference: True Blood's Stephen Moyer as PB's brother in the movie. Coincidentally, both are English.
• Another movie vamp reference: Cam Gigandet was the vamp baddie in the first Twilight movie.
• In case you didn't realise - he wasn't rescuing his niece, he was actually rescuing his DAUGHTER, whom he had to give up when the church took him away to become a vampire killing priest. 
• Shirtless PB count: ONE. I know, sad huh? The dude was ripped, by the way. Or it could be a ab double, hahaha....
• You know the man is English when he doesn't seem to tan even in the desert. I must know what sunscreen he's using.
• The animated prologue in the beginning was not bad. (Found out later that it's a Genndy Tartakovsky - of Dexter's Laboratory fame; which explains why it looked so familiar)
• The religious tone is a little annoying, but negligible.
• Always nice to see Alan Dale as the Priest's confidante monsignor and Christopher Plummer as the big kahuna.

For all the people who didn't think there would be a romantic angle in this movie - you're wrong. The bit where Maggie Q kinda told PB how she feels about him and gets rejected - man, that has to suck. But you have to give her character props for the courage to do so.

Cam Gigandet in this movie was a little useless (but a pretty face) as the girl's sheriff boyfriend. At one point he looked like he was going to crap his pants or something. But PB, Maggie Q and even Karl Urban (who plays the priest-turned-human vampire baddie) look pretty bad ass in this movie.

The ending for this movie reeks of a sequel, which might happen if it does well in the box office.

In conclusion: If you like vampire movies, you might want to check Priest out. For someone like me who's not a fan, I just thought it was so-so; and I found myself giggling uncontrollably at some of the lame-o stuff in the movie.

PS. Sat through the credits and was laughing when I saw credits like "Chinese Speaking Priest" and "Farsi Speaking Priest" when you've never hear those characters say a peep. No stingers, by the way - you're welcome.

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