Priest wasn't really a movie I expected much from; it had a good cast and looked like the type of thing I could have found interesting, but I just didn't have any faith that it was going to work out. Then, of course, there were all the people who talked endlessly about how terrible it was.
I don't care whether or not it represented the comic well, as I've never read it and have no interest in doing so. The only metric that's going to matter to me is whether or not I'm intrigued, entertained, or enjoy the film. In that regard, it was better than expected, especially given how negative everything I'd heard was.
That's not to say it was a great film. The movie suffered from feeling a bit scattered and... well, small. My girlfriend went so far as to say that nothing happened during the movie; it wasn't so much that nothing happened as what did happen was very straightforward. Point A moved to point B which moved to point C and ended at point D. There was the requisite killing of vampires. There was some action. Paul Bettany looked like a badass. Maggie Q looked like a badass. Cam Gigandet was, surprisingly, non-douchey. Karl Urban was villanous in a two-dimensional but not scene-chew-y sort of way. Several good actors appear in minor roles. Somehow, director Scott Charles Stewart gets really decent actors to line up to work with him... Perhaps it's his connections from his visual effect days, but Legion was nothing to write home about (so I doubt his previous work is drawing them in). In large part Legion's problems had to do with the script and, again, that's the case here with Priest. Legion had a crap ending and not enough plot and Priest maintained a baseline throughout, never really moving outside of its comfort zone.
The technology and environment of the film with its desert vistas, Wild West ghost towns, and futuristic dystopian cities make for a very different sci-fi action movie experience. And the motorcycle and vampire designs were both pretty cool. It was a definitely different take on vampires, if nothing else.
It's a shame that a visually-appealing movie with good actors can't find enough story to actually become something worthwhile, but I don't regret watching it. It was an amusing trifle, but it's not something I'll come back to again.
