Review in 100 Words – Priest

Slimy, eyeless, Alien-esque vampires at war with a clergy run society? It’s a hard sell to an audience used to seeing Twilight and True Blood vampires, even with Stephen Moyer appearing as the Priest’s brother. With an uninspired and too serious a script, Paul Bettany, as Priest, gives a quiet, stoic performance, having no chemistry with either the Priestess (Maggie Q) or Hicks the Sheriff (Cam Gigandet). Certainties are: the film is good enough for a feature showing on the SyFy channel, Bettany is sexy, Karl Urban as Black Hat is sexy, and superhero suits don’t come with padded bras.

Priest

PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic sci fi thriller, is set in an alternate world — one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest (Paul Bettany) from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece (Lily Collins) is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on an obsessive quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend (Cam Gigandet), a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess (Maggie Q) who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

Opens Friday May 13.

Official Site
Facebook page
Twitter

Cam Gigandet

There’s a scene in BURLESQUE in which Cam Gigandet’s character, in an attempt to woo his crush, is completely nude except for a very strategically placed box of cookies. Who knew a box of cookies could be so desirable! ;p

Best known for his role as James, the evil vampire in the hit franchise Twilight, Cam won a legion of female fans who didn’t just want the choice of Edward or Jacob.  Instead they wanted the shirtless vampire with the 6 pack abs. In apivotal scene, Edward tells Bella, “James is a tracker. The hunt is his obsession. I read his mind. My reaction at the field set him off. I just made this his most exciting game ever. He’s never gonna stop.” Bella is naturally frightened, but my reaction was: a really hot vampire with 6 pack abs is tracking me and this is a problem because…?

Cam Joslin Gigandet was born in Tacoma, Washington and was bitten by the acting bug after moving to LA, when, on a friend’s suggestion, he took an acting class. He made his TV debut in 2003 on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and got his first big “albeit short” break as Daniel Romalatti, Jr. on the soap The Young & the Restless. The following year, he joined the cast of the shortlived series “Jack & Bobby” and then played bad boy Kevin on “The O.C.” who was the cause of Mischa Barton’s character Marissa’s death.

He began his movie career in 2004 with the short entitled MISTAKEN and made his feature film debut in 2007 in WHO’S YOUR CADDY. But it was his role in the 2008 movie NEVER BACK DOWN, co-starring Djimon Hounsou and Sean Faris, that garnered him attention and a MTV Movie Award for best fight. Cam also starred in THE UNBORN along with Gary Oldman, the sci-fi thriller PANDORUM with Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster and THE EXPERIMENT with Forest Whitaker and Adrian Brody. Earlier this year, Cam played Amanda Bynes’ 22 year old boyfriend still in high school in the Emma Stone vehicle EASY A.

Next for Cam is a role in PRIEST based on the graphic novel of the same name, in which a priest, played by Paul Bettany, disobeys the church in order to track the vampires that kidnapped his niece. PRIEST is a post apocalyptic horror thriller blending Wild West elements with the supernatural. At an early screening of the movie, the mostly male audience didn’t appreciate Cam as the comedic sidekick. My suggestion: “What if he was naked!?” I’m hoping that in the final cut that there will be a scene with perhaps with a strategically placed cowboy hat!

Official Sites:
Priest
Burlesque

Fansites:
Cam Gigandet Online
Cam Gigandet (French/English Site)

Rate This Actor:
(14 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)


 Loading ...

Photo Gallery:

Stephen Moyer

If you are one of those people who like your vampires a little sexier, a little dirtier and a little bloodier , with fangs and a dose of Southern Charm, Stephen Moyer’s “Bill Compton” is your vamp. Read more

Karl Urban

Ode to Karl Urban:
Oh Karl Urban, how I love thee, let me count the ways!
Pierce me with an arrow of thy love, oh winged god. (It began with a guest starring role as Cupid on “Xena”.)
Horse master and master of my heart, I am your willing servant. (Then he rode across the plains of Rohan in The Two Towers and Return of the King)
I am boneless, without will and require your passionate care. (And now he’s playing Doctor McCoy in the new Star Trek.)
Wow, I am an appallingly bad poet. I’ll stick to my normal writing technique and spare you all further discomfort.

I’ve been a fan of Mr. Urban’s work for quite some time now. With the exception of some early stuff he did in New Zealand I think I’ve seen the majority of his work. Hell I even own a copy of The Irrefutable Truth About Demons (2000). Don’t judge. It was a gift. Karl has a presence on screen that is commanding. He’s had to hold his own opposite larger than life actors like Vin Disel (The Chronicles of Riddick 2004), The Rock (Doom 2005) and Clancy Brown (Pathfinder 2007). Karl so convinced Pathfinder director Marcus Nispel that he was a Russian when he played a hit man out to get Jason Bourne in The Bourne Supremacy (2004) that Nispel feared they’d never get him to play the Viking raised by Native Americans in pre-Columbus North America. Well das vedonya for pursuing that avenue. We got Karl in a loincloth!

With the release of the Star Trek prequel (do we call it that?) its fun to point out that Karl has played another iconic character in the early years. In 2008 Karl played “Lonesome Dove” Texas Ranger Woodrow Call opposite Steve Zahn’s Gus McCrae. It’s available on DVD and worth seeing just for Val Kilmer’s interesting performance. But his portrayal of “Bones” that I’m most looking forward to. From what I’m hearing Karl injects a little humor into the mix and may very well be the stand out performance of the film. Just sit back and watch this guy. Mark my words, you all will be spouting poetry soon enough!

Fansites:

Karl Urban Online

Karl Urban dot Com

Official Movie Site: Star Trek (2009)

Rate this Actor:

(9 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)


 Loading ...