Paul Bettany is the angriest Christian in the world.
First you saw him in The Da Vinci Code as that Opus Dei self-flagellation guy.
Then he was Legion, the last Angel fighting on behalf of humanity.
Now you can see him as Priest, one man, alone, abandoned by the country he loves.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
I'm not saying that Paul Bettany has type-cast himself as the angriest Christian in the world, just that there is an observable pattern in the roles he chooses to play.
Priest was your pretty standard action schlock. At least martial arts makes sense in the context of the plot in this film, as opposed to Hannah, where it made no sense for men with handguns to choose to punch other people who also have handguns.
The plot tries to do too much with the too short amount of time, less than 90 minutes. Bridesmaids was over two hours - how does a RomCom get so much more time than an action flick?
The movie never explores Christianity. I don't think Christ even gets mentioned. The characters quote the "go to" Bible verses, "As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yada yada."
The cast could have stood some trimming. The twist at the end wasn't that meaningful because you never get to know the characters. It's hammy and silly, but at least the detective work the characters do sort of makes sense. Too many movies fill screen time with a crap mystery that never served a purpose. You can't accuse this movie of wasting time because at sub-90 minutes.. there wasn't any time to waste. They really could have added extra reels and fleshed out the story.
The movie doesn't tell you enough about the world so you can see any plot holes, if there were any. Bioware gives players reams of information, so yea you could pick apart Mass Effect if you were so inclined. But so much of Priest was delivered via imagery and presumptions.
I imagine it made more sense in the graphic novels. Anyway - it was a fine piece of distraction, while it lasted.
First you saw him in The Da Vinci Code as that Opus Dei self-flagellation guy.
Then he was Legion, the last Angel fighting on behalf of humanity.
Now you can see him as Priest, one man, alone, abandoned by the country he loves.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
I'm not saying that Paul Bettany has type-cast himself as the angriest Christian in the world, just that there is an observable pattern in the roles he chooses to play.
Priest was your pretty standard action schlock. At least martial arts makes sense in the context of the plot in this film, as opposed to Hannah, where it made no sense for men with handguns to choose to punch other people who also have handguns.
The plot tries to do too much with the too short amount of time, less than 90 minutes. Bridesmaids was over two hours - how does a RomCom get so much more time than an action flick?
The movie never explores Christianity. I don't think Christ even gets mentioned. The characters quote the "go to" Bible verses, "As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death yada yada."
The cast could have stood some trimming. The twist at the end wasn't that meaningful because you never get to know the characters. It's hammy and silly, but at least the detective work the characters do sort of makes sense. Too many movies fill screen time with a crap mystery that never served a purpose. You can't accuse this movie of wasting time because at sub-90 minutes.. there wasn't any time to waste. They really could have added extra reels and fleshed out the story.
The movie doesn't tell you enough about the world so you can see any plot holes, if there were any. Bioware gives players reams of information, so yea you could pick apart Mass Effect if you were so inclined. But so much of Priest was delivered via imagery and presumptions.
I imagine it made more sense in the graphic novels. Anyway - it was a fine piece of distraction, while it lasted.
