Priest - A Vampire Killing Machine

Given it's fairly dismal opening weekend (about $15 million), I've been wondering if Priest was worth watching.  Then tonight I had a free evening, and I figured how many post-apocalyptic movies do I actually get to see on the big screen? So I gave it a shot.

The last PA movie I saw in theaters was probably Book of Eli.  I went into that one with really high expectations, and came away dissapointed.  For Priest, I knew it only had an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so I thought it would probably suck, but it turned out to be really pretty good. 

Priest is set in an alternate reality where humans and vampires have been fighting for centuries. Mankind finally retreats into walled cities, but then finds their most powerful weapon yet, the Priests, men and women trained as ultimate warriors, who turn the tide and force the vampire hordes into reservations.

Decades later, the vampires return, and one Priest must break his oaths to stay true to a higher calling.

Priest is often billed as a post-apocalyptic movie, but there's really only one scene with a crumbling city in the background.  Other than that, it could basically be a western.  At least a western with mega-cities, solar-powered motorcycles, automated electronic confessionals, and well, vampires. But what you really need to know about it going in is that it really is a comic book movie.  It's based on a highly regarded graphic novel, and is chock full of cartoony physics, and plot "twists" you could see coming a mile off.  The vampires themselves are pretty funny looking, but they serve their purpose, and they're no worse than others we've seen.

Overall, it's not fantastic, but if you set your expectations accordingly, it's fun ride, and I'll definitely be picking it up on disc when it comes out.

Check out this short clip below.  It's billed as a prequel, but is actually the opening montage of the movie, with a bit of a trailer thrown in.