Movie Review: PRIEST

PRIEST

2011
PG-13

Priest is a 2011 action film directed by Scott Charles Stewart that takes place in a futuristic, alternate universe where humans and vampires have lived on Earth together since the beginning of time. Their relations, however, have always been violent, with the vampires having the upper hand until the church began to train "priests" to combat them. After a prolonged war, the priests subdued the vampires and placed the ones still living into reservations. The priests were then discarded and sent to fend for themselves in the world of man. One day, our lead Priest (Paul Bettany) learns his brother and sister-in-law have been killed by vampires, who then took his niece captive. Going against the wishes of Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer), the church's current leader, Priest sets out to find his missing kin with the help of a local sheriff named Hicks (Cam Gigandet). In response, the church sends out a small group of priests to subdue our hero; this group is led by a Priestess (Maggie Q) who may or may not have the church's best interests in mind. As time continues to pass, both groups must do whatever they can to reach their objectives before the vampire menace can reach the cities and retake control.

Before I get into my dismantling of this particular film, I'd like to acknowledge that I had high hopes going into the screening. When I first heard about Priest last year - I had the opportunity to see it at an advance screening but couldn't make the time - it sounded like another bit of rote action bits in the vein of 2010's Legion (which also starred Bettany). As I mentioned in my 2011 Summer Movie Preview, where I listed Priest as the film I was ninth-most excited to see this summer, all I've heard in the past few months was how excited all the cast and crew have been since wrapping their shoot. Bettany even went on to claim that it's the best screenplay he's read in years. All of their excitement got me a little jazzed up about this one, but in the end, I was sorely disappointed.

The reason Priest doesn't work is because we get a shoddy screenplay that doesn't offer much in terms of story, character development or dialogue. The story is relatively straight-forward, but it's so predictable that I found it difficult to keep myself engaged with each successive event. In terms of a character arc, I don't really think we're getting much. Then again, this isn't necessarily the type of film that needs one, so perhaps I'm being a tad harsh in that regard. And oh, the dialogue. My readers will know that I'm a bit of a stickler for some realistic conversation. By realistic conversation, I mean dialogue that fits the scene and the film and doesn't make me laugh or roll my eyes at whatever the character is saying. Unfortunately, this is where Priest truly falls short. There were quite a few moments while I watched the film that I found myself rolling my eyes or chuckling at some of the lines being delivered. When your audience can't even get involved with the dialogue, then there's major problems with your screenplay.

That being said, I can't bash the actors too much considering the level of drivel with which they had to work. Everyone was just a little too over-the-top for my personal tastes, but perhaps you'll enjoy it a little more than I did. Bettany, who I usually love and was one of those listed on my post of favorite actors, was probably the worst of the lot, to the point where it feels like he almost mailed in his performance. Plummer gives a decent performance in his limited amount of screen-time, but he's so underutilized that it almost isn't worth mentioning him here. Even Karl Urban, who I usually enjoy, brings a little bit more badness to the screen. I realize that the script wasn't great, but great actors find ways to level the playing field, so to speak.

The visual effects were rather good, if I do say so myself. I didn't see the film in 3D - I'm staunchly against the third-dimension when it comes to movie theaters, so I wouldn't outright recommend seeing Priest that way - but the visuals might look nice in that regard.

Overall, Priest is probably a movie you'll want to avoid. I wasn't very fond of the aforementioned Legion, but that film (which I gave a "C" grade) was miles ahead of this one. Save your money and wait until you can rent it.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: F
1.5 Thumbs Down

Movie Review: BURMA VJ

BURMA VJ

Reporting from a Closed Country
2009
Unrated

It's a little bit difficult to critique and review a movie like this. It's like trying to say that a documentary about the Holocaust or the mass genocides in Rwanda. The whole point of such a film is to stir an emotional response from the viewer and bring them towards the sympathizing with the peoples affected by such outrageous atrocities. In some ways, to say that a documentary such as Burma VJ is not effective is to say that it's message did not reach you. In some ways, a person can assume a person who makes such a statement may be a heartless, self-centered individual. Perhaps you can see my conundrum when I say that I wasn't entirely impressed with this Oscar-nominated film.

Burma VJ, which was directed by Anders Ostergaard, follows a man named "Joshua" (his real name is not given for security reasons) who is one of the ringleaders of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), an essentially illegal television and media group who works towards broadcasting the injustices created by the Burmese government; they do this as a direct counter-attack to the constant stream of propaganda ushered forth by the government. The footage shown within this film spans the course of roughly six weeks in the late summer of 2007 where monks and public citizens alike took a stand against the government for the first time in nearly twenty years. These undercover video reporters put their lives on the line to capture this momentous occasion, taking us through the ups and the downs, the trials and the tribulations of organizing such a massive protest.

Not only is this a documentary, but you can probably see this as a foreign film as well considering we're getting a lot of the dialogue in Burmese. I only say this because, unless you're fluent in both English and Burmese, you're going to have some subtitles to read. The English-language sections of the film, which mostly comprise the voice-overs from Joshua, seemed a little bit off for me. It felt as though his lines were a little too scripted for a documentary feature. Yes, I know that voice-over like that is supposed to be scripted, but it works best when it flows seamlessly and without hesitation. Perhaps Joshua simply isn't that great of a line-reader, but his voice-over stood out so glaringly that it would constantly take me away from what he was actually saying. This does not pose well for the film's effectiveness.

Another knock against it is the constant cutaway to blatantly reconstructed scenes. Now, the film does give a disclaimer at the very beginning that says we should be ready for such scenes (all of which comprise of Joshua either on the phone or at a computer while he hides in Thailand and attempts to direct his other videographers), but they always seem a little too out-of-place from the rest of the film. I think this goes into the camera work. These reconstructed scenes are crisp and crystal clear, and they take you away from the grittiness of the hand-held camera images that are being thrust into view. If the change were more subtle, I wouldn't be writing this paragraph, but it's such a stark contrast that it almost feels like we're going from our documentary to a big-budget political thriller. Back and forth, back and forth, and I just got tired of it after a while.

All of this is not to say that the film's message did not reach me. I have known about the political turmoil in Burma for a few years, but I never really knew the true extent. Burma VJ opened my eyes a little bit more to the suffering of the Burmese people under militaristic rule. So please don't assume I'm a heartless piece of crap because I'm not throwing an "A+" grade towards this film. I think that they could have made their argument a little more effective, and it could have been a great film. Instead, it's hanging on somewhere between the range of "good" and "almost great." However, it's still worth watching considering this story needs to be told. Perhaps you'll get a little more sucked into the film than I did, but you should definitely watch it and keep yourself informed about the world around you.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: B-
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