Product Details

• Actors: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet
• Directors: Scott Stewart
• Format: AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Sony
• DVD Release Date: August 16, 2011
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002ZG98NC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,797 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #63 in Movies & TV > Blu-ray > Horror
• For more information about "Priest (Unrated Version) [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

In a post-apocalyptic world, a savage war between man and vampire raged for centuries. A warrior priest (Paul Bettany) receives word of fresh attacks but now it`s personal, his niece has been kidnapped by a new hive of merciless vampires. To save her, he must break his vow of peace and hunt down the hive before it's too late. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel and packed with bloodthirsty action, this full throttle crusade takes you on the hunt for a deadly new breed of killer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blade Meets Aliens In Mad Max Land, May 13, 2011

By 

P. Kingsriter "R.N. Guy" (Lakeville, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Priest (Rated Version) (DVD)

This visually arresting film is sure to please those looking for a popcorn-y monster movie diversion. The plot's not much to write about (based on a series of graphic novels:Priest: Genesis - Volumes 1-3), but the visual interpretation is at times nearly breathtaking on the big screen (especially in 3D). The priests are a special cadre of warriors commissioned by The Church (the new world's governing body) to hunt down and eradicate vampires in the land. According to the comic book-style animated backstory, they accomplished their mission and were disbanded. But wait, not so fast. Despite The Church's unexplained objections and denials, there may be vampire trouble brewing outside the protective walls of the cities. One priest renounces his vows to save a girl held captive by the marauding beasts.

This is a world that looks like Utah's stark salt flats without life or greenery, but with lots of space where one can really zip around on super-cool jet-powered motorcycles. The cities are grotesque gothic masses of steel and randomly placed video screens straight out of a monochrome version of Blade Runner - The Final Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition). The sets are stark and at the same time fantastic. One feels the clausterphobia and despair of a world without natural light or color. The CGI set designers seemed to take great care in developing a convincing post-apocalyptic wasteland, but the results are uneven. Adding in great amounts of detail in some scenes (3D dust particles, stunning lighting effects) is very impressive with its realism, only to be followed by a scene that seemed blurry, monochromatic, and feeling incomplete. Overall, the visual sets and effects are easily the most impressive part of the film.

Paul Bettany is convincing as a supercharged yet tortured vampire killer who gave up a shot at a normal existence (well, as normal an existence could be with vampires roaming the open plains) in order to dedicate his life to culling vampire herds and protecting mankind. Not much emotional range is needed for the role, but Bettany does a decent job of infusing it with some humanity. Cam Gigandet plays a squinty wild west-style gunslinger/sheriff bent on saving his girl. He's good with his knife but better with his gun (so he says). His character (and how Gigandet plays him) seems more of an annoyance to The Priest (and to the audience as well). Karl Urban steals his every scene with a deliciously snarling performance of a former priest gone bad. Maggie Q stoically kicks but while trying to hide her not-so-priestess-y feelings for our hero. The performance, while they won't be in line for Oscar consideration, are strong enough to carry the relatively weak story and drive the action.

The action is propulsive, albeit sometimes disjointed and difficult to follow in the vampire combat scenes. Not to worry, there's plenty of gory death and dismemberment for the mutants, which leads to this question: What does it take for a movie to get an "R" rating these days? There were amputations, decapitations, combustions, explosions, lacerations, and lots and lots of blood. Throw in a single "F"-word and they must've given the MPAA more than a few fits. I had to recheck my ticket to verify I'd actually seen a PG-13 feature. Sure enough, but still hard to believe. Anyway, it certainly satisfied the film's action quotient.

One aspect that may offend some viewers is that there seems to be open season on the Catholic church. The film makes no bones about its scorn for all things religious, especially if religion is used (in a paraphrase of Karl Marx) as the opiate of the masses. Christopher Plummer's immense talent is wasted as the control-minded monsignor of the church's highest office. He wails mantras through ubiquitous video screens to the city's public mind-numbingly plodding through the streets, obviously attempting to overtly brain wash. "To turn against the church is to turn against God" must be repeated 20 times in the film. We get what you're saying. Move on. Alan Dale's considerable acting chops are also squandered as he plays Plummer's right-hand monsignor. There was hope for what could have been a fantastic plot twist (a mole in the highest court) that never developed as his character took the wide path that leads to destruction, one of more than a few missed screenwriting opportunities.

But that's not necessarily why one watches a vampire-slayer movie. It's that kind of poor screenwriting that kept this film from being something really special and memorable. Instead, it's relegated to the class of effective but flawed genre film.

The bottom line is: I still liked it. I'd recommend "Priest" to anyone who likes films in the genre like Blade or Underworld (Widescreen Special Edition).

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great comic book action flick, May 29, 2011

By 

E. M. Van Court "Van, emvc (at) lycos.com" (Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Priest (Rated Version) (DVD)

I'm sorry, "graphic novel" action film.

All sarcasm aside, "Priest" was exactly as advertised; excellent science fiction action, well suited for popcorn. And I enjoyed the heck out of it.

In an alternate earth, the Church and vampires have been at war for centuries. Technology didn't offer the solution, recruiting and training extraordinary fighters, the Priests, did. And when the church had won, and the vampires were contained in underground reservations, the Priests were not needed. The Church marginalized the Priests, and didn't want to admit that their control was incomplete, so when the vampires escaped the reservation and raided a farm house, they didn't want to acknowledge that the vampires were loose, or that the Priests were needed again. But the settlers killed and kidnapped by the vampires were friends of a Priest.

While Paul Bettany delivered an outstanding performance (of its sort) in the title role, Maggie Q, Karl Urban, and Christopher Plummer really carried it for me. Bettany delivered the brooding warrior priest very well, delivering intensity and portraying a man trying to reconcile conflicting duties well. The role didn't allow him great range, but he did the most with it. Maggie Q was allowed a far greater range as another Priest with chaste love for the hero. Her roles are getting more serious, and she is finally getting a chance to show her abilities. Well, she's always gotten to show off her martial arts gifts, and she does again here too. Karl Urban also gets a well earned, central role in this one, but aside from saying that he does an excellent job in a different character from earlier roles, I can't go further without spoilers. Christopher Plummer, of course, was excellent, adding depth and power to the role of the senior clergyman and political leader in the Church.

The action was first rate, the plot was solid, and the actors were exceptional. OK, so sci-fi action flicks aren't for everyone, especially ones from comic books. If they are, you'll enjoy this one a lot.

E.M. Van Court

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty bad-ass overall, August 18, 2011

By 

Peter Faden (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Priest (Amazon Instant Video)

Dont get me wrong...this isnt an amazing display of acting or screenplay or what have you. However, what it definitely was....was bad ass. The imagery and landscapes were cool, the fighting was pretty neat, the characters were approachable, and the weapons were pretty awesome. It's only an hour and a half long, so you arent going to get that finely detailed development of a drama, but do you really need it? Nope. Basically, it's bad asses killing some creepy looking vampires, and feud between Priest and A) the Church (in this case, representing society and government along with the dogma and the deceit that comes with it), B) an old buddy turned nemesis, and C)occasionally with what is basically his sidekick.
I'll avoid revealing too much of the story, as sparse as it is, although you'll basically know what's going on within the first ten minutes or so.
To me,this was a movie made strictly to develop interest in a longer running series of movies, which promise to be even more bad-ass.
Excellent effort, worth the minor time commitment, pleasing to the eye. :)