After his Hollywood breakthrough with films like ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and before his first MCU appearance in ‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’, Paul Bettany was almost an action star for a while: in ‘Legion’ and ‘Priest’ (both by director Scott Stewart) Bettany really stirred up the evil.
Anyone who wants to see the Vision actor in an action movie without red makeup and a cape now has the opportunity to do so “Priest” will be broadcast today, March 5, 2024 at 10:25 PM on Tele 5. A repeat will be broadcast on the night of March 7 to 8 at 12.25 pm.
Alternatively, you can stream the FSK 16 title anytime as part of your flat-rate subscription to Netflix. Blu-ray, DVD or paid video on demand are also available:
In “Priest”, based on the manhwa of the same name by South Korean Min-Woo Hyung, director Scott Stewart depicts a futuristic world torn by endless wars in which the victorious humans live in a dictatorial church state, while the defeated vampires lead a miserable existence in Life in the desert.
The victory over the bloodsuckers was possible thanks to a caste of powerful priests, including the nameless holy warrior played by Paul Bettany. When one day he hears that his niece Lucy (Lily Collins) has been kidnapped by vampires, he leaves town against the wishes of church leader Orelas (Christopher Plummer) to save Lucy.
He soon has to deal not only with the bloodsuckers commanded by supreme vampire Black Hat (Karl Urban), but also with his former comrades in arms led by a warrior friend (Maggie Q)…
Solid vampire action
Nobody should expect a masterpiece from ‘Priest’. But if you know what you’re getting into, The sci-fi fantasy actor easily entertains due to the pleasantly short running time of an hour and a half.
Visually, director Stewart uses the great role models of the genre (from ‘Blade Runner’ to ‘Mad Max’) and sends in his cast without much introduction. very neatly choreographed slow-motion battles against convincingly animated and truly beautifully creepy designed vampires.
However, because the thematic and narrative structure is much less successful, we ultimately give “Priest” an average of only 2.5 out of 5 stars in our FILMSTARTS review by author Florian Koch.