Paul Bettany Finds Exception to 'Thou Shall Not Kill' in Priest Trailer

Yep, there's actually a little-known clause to that "do not kill" commandment - vampires and human beings who create or protect them must be killed. At least, according to the new trailer for Priest. I was actually brainstorming clever ways to call out this Paul Bettany vs. holy vampires flick on completely ripping off last year's Paul Bettany vs. angels flick Legion. But it turns out that the same guy, Scott Charles Stuart, directed both movies. And now I'm a little curious about Stuart.

Priest is Stuart's second movie in a row involving a Christian God or sect trying to wipe out humanity and Paul Bettany leading the resistance. What shaped his strange blend of Old Testament fury, resentment towards God and love of Matrix style action sequences? A strict Catholic upbringing where his only escape was a shed in the backyard with a covert X-box hooked up? Something even darker? And how many times did he watch Wimbledon before deciding Paul Bettany should be the guy to take on God?

I'm less interested in the movie itself based on this trailer. Here, we find Bettany fighting Vampires and the evil priest that lords over them, whereas last time around he was fighting angels sent by God himself. Seems like a step back, right?

The trailer starts with moody post-Blade Runner visuals that made me hope for a more interesting film, then devolves into a lot of fight slow-motion fight sequences. At least, one of them involves crucifixes that turn into flying daggers. And sorry, but these vampires do look exactly like the angels in Legion, except not even as scary as that ice cream man.

Verdict: Pass. But if Stuart makes one more humans vs. angry God film, I'm going to rent all three and and conduct a psychological study.