Priest - Blu-ray Review

4.2 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, is set in an alternate world -- one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills. (Buy Now $19.99)

Starring:

Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer, Alan Dale, Mädchen Amick

Director:

Scott Charles Stewart

Blu-ray Release Date:

August 16, 2011

Subtitles:

English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.8 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
●    Subwoofer - 5.0 Stars
●    Dialog - 4.0 Stars
●    Surround Effects - 5.0 Stars
●    Dynamic Range - 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Priest has plenty of bite with this impressive audio presentation. This film really utilizes rear surround speakers. Deep sounding vampire growls, fast moving wind, gunshots, and explosions all fill the room with joyous sounds of mayhem. The subwoofer gets plenty of exercise when trains rumble by, vampires bang on walls, and during several explosions. The bass lands with lots of heft and vibrates the walls. Every once in a while it's hard to understand everything the actors say, but dialog isn't very important in this movie.

Video  4.0 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison
●    Color Accuracy  - 4.0 Stars
●    Shadow detail - 4.0 Stars
●    Clarity - 4.0 Stars
●    Skin tones - 4.0 Stars
●    Compression - 4.0 Stars

Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Make sure you watch this movie in a dark room, there are a lot of scenes in the dark. I know it's a vampire movie, but sometimes its a little too dark, and details are lost in the crushing darkness. The film has cold colors and tends to give the entire movie a blue tint. During the scenes in the daytime, colors are a little pale, but more detail can be seen. Clarity is decent and allows pimples, hair follicles, and freckles to be seen during close-ups. There is a very light film grain that helps the film from looking too harsh.

Bonus Features 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

●    Commentary with Director Scott Charles Stewart, Writer Cory Goodman, Paul Bettany and Maggie Q
●    Deleted & Extended Scenes
●    The Bloody Frontier: Creating the World of Priest
●    Tools of the Trade: The Weapons and Vehicles
●    Bullets and Crucifixes: Picture-in-Picture Experience
●    movieIQ

Movie - 2.0 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Priest succeeds in being a different kind of vampire killer movie, but it fails to be a good one. The film starts of with an extremely bloody and fun cartoon explaining the world this story exists in at a fast pace. When the cartoon is over, the film moves at a snails pace. The plot is not new, rescue the girl, even if 5 other people die doing it. In fact, the setting is not really new. This movie is really a western, it even has reservations for the vampires. Instead of horses, the ride turbine powered motorcycles, and theirs even a train action scene in the movie. This film tries to be different by having Priests as warriors and the vampires are dumb eyeless monsters with huge slimy teeth. Of course there are a few small twists, but they are useless because they never change the plot or motivations of anyone.

When I look back on the movie I would have to say they characters themselves were the weakest point of the film. Most of the actors did a good job, but the Priest themselves are sort of emotionless and are kind of boring. I usually like Karl Urban. His portrayal of Bones on Star Trek was awesome. However, in this movie, he over acted the bad guy in every way possible. This movie could be fun if you know what you are expecting. It did sound awesome, and the slow motion action sequences reminded me of watching some of my favorite Kung Fu movies.