Priest

Writes MIKE HALE in NY Times:

Not far into “Priest,” Scott Stewart’s second consecutive film starring Paul Bettany as a John Wayne-like Christian avenger, you’ll say to yourself: “Oh! It’s ‘The Searchers and Vampires’!” That realization will keep you amused for a few minutes, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that the only real thought in the movie has gone into the cowboy-gothic costumes and the computer-generated effects.

“Priest” is what you get when you open a male geek’s toy box and dump everything on the floor: John Ford, Sergio Leone, comic books, throwing stars, computer-enhanced martial arts, a runaway train, schoolboy Roman Catholic rebellion and Maggie Q in skin-tight vestments.

Mr. Bettany is the Ethan Edwards of the piece, a clerical ninja living in a post-vampocalyptic world in which the humans cluster in dingy cities, and the vampires are imprisoned in underground “reservations.” When a band of renegade vamps kidnaps the priest’s niece, he sets out with a young sidekick to find her, vowing that he will kill her if she’s been infected. (Yes, the “Searchers” parallels are that literal.)

The Complete Review Here. http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/movies/priest-review.html