Many years ago, following an attack on mankind by vicious vampires, the Church created an elite squad of warrior priests to battle the blood-suckers. Now, with the threat having subsided and the majority of humans choosing to live inside giant walled cities, the Church has retired this faithful fighting force.
When one of these priests (Paul Bettany) learns that his brother's family has been attacked by vampires and their daughter Lucy (Lily Collins) stolen, he defies his superior, Monsignor Orelas (Christopher Plummer), to stage a rescue attempt.
Heading out into the wastelands, the priest teams up with Hicks (Cam Gigandet), the local town sheriff who informed him of his brother's misfortune, and a similarly skilled priestess (Maggie Q), as Orelas dispatches ecclesiastical killers to bring him back dead or alive.
Learning that the kidnapping was part of a scheme by the villainous Black Hat (Karl Urban) to raise a vampire army that could attack his city and destroy the Church, the priest faces a desperate apocalyptic battle to save humanity.
From the director who brought you the quasi-religious zombie nonsense of Legion comes another helping of holy unnecessary, but very entertaining, gibberish, also starring the slightly baffled-looking Bettany.
Packed with toothy CGI ghouls and some decent action sequences, there's a lot to feast the eyes on in this short but sweet sci-fi yarn. Star Trek star Urban excels as the flamboyant baddie and there's lots of fun to be had in spotting the films Stewart has liberally 'borrowed' from, making Priest good Friday night fare that's best watched with a crate of beers and an open mind.
Priest is a Film programme that first aired in 2011 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
