Film review: Priest

LAST week, it was the cowboys versus the aliens. This week, the war for your film-going buck pits the vicars against the vampires.

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LAST week, it was the cowboys versus the aliens. This week, the war for your film-going buck pits the vicars against the vampires.

LAST week, it was the cowboys versus the aliens. This week, the war for your film-going buck pits the vicars against the vampires.

The heroes of Priest - and it is something of a stretch to call them that - are church-going, flame-throwing, jetbike-riding bad boys.

The villains are a rather drab bunch of vamps, who all live underground in reservation-style accommodation (the movie continually likens the plight of the bloodsuckers to native American Indians, which is as insulting as it is weird).

Because it is set at an undisclosed date in the future - and is based on a fairly nutty Korean graphic novel - Priest is free to reset and rebreak its rules of logic throughout. At the very least, the film's herky-jerky mood swings will keep viewers on their toes long after they become bored with the main plot.

Which, if you're interested, is all about a kick-ass cleric named - wait for it - Priest (Paul Bettany, sporting a whopping crucifix tattoo right between the eyes).

He is in the process of disobeying an official edict from above (not God, but Christopher Plummer as a sinister monsignor type) to stay off the vampires' home turf.

But the vampires killed Priest's sister. And they abducted his niece (Lily Collins). And now they - wait for it - gotta pay.

Co-stars Cam Gigandet as Priest's lame layman offsider Sheriff Hicks and Maggie Q as the sacrilegiously sexy Priestess.

VISIT priest3D.com.au

Priest (M) Director: Scott Stewart (Legion) Starring: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Christopher Plummer, Karl Urban. Verdict: Pulpit fiction. Star rating **