Priest - 2011 Action horror film.

There will be spoilers.

Based on a comic by Korean Hynug Min-Woo and directed by Scott Stewart, it's an amalgam of sci-fi Western, post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror. It was released in April 2011 to mediocre-at-best reviews. Think Catholic theocracy Firefly meets Van Helsing.

In an alternative dystopian world, Mankind has been at war with Vampires for decades, possibly centuries. These are not yer traditional vampires, rather are Alien-like, and probably extraterrestrial in origin. Fighting against them was a group of warrior priests trained and supported by The Church, which rules as a theocracy. Mankind mostly lives in walled Cities, basically enslaved by the Church. The last of the vampires are imprisoned in reservations where they "turn" humans into servants, and the Church now believes that vampires are no longer a threat to humanity.

The story revolves around the titular Priest, last survivor of a group that fought in the last Vampire War. This priest, played by Paul Bettany is approached by the sheriff of an independent town to rescue his true-love Lucy, who is also the Priest's niece. The Priest asks the clergy to allow him to go and rescue her from the vampires but his request is refused.

Despite the refusal, he goes with Hicks, the sheriff, and they find and destroy a vampire Guardian protecting a vampire hive, get on the trail of the vampires, finally discovering them on a train heading to the main City. Along the way they team up with another group of priests sent by the Clergy to kill The Priest; you will discover the real secret of the Priest's relationship with Lucy, see a hybrid human-vampire daywalking vampire created by the Vampire Queen and experience the inevitable fight-on-a train-roof ( you could see that coming, right?), and the self-sacrifice attempt by one of the good guys.

This is not a great film, I have to say. There is some good set design and photography and some good ideas, but for the most part it's derivative nonsense that telegraphs plot points way in advance. Other than a couple of good jump scares there's nothing really scary, little suspense and no real surprises; about two-third of the way through I think I could have written the ending. But if you're at a loose end one evening it's not a total waste of an hour and a half, what with the John Woo styled fight scenes and the desert scenery.