Priest
Summary
A forget Paul Bettany lamia flick is a stealth remaking ofJohn Wayne’smost iconic westerly . Wayne became a movie mavin thanks to his good turn in 1939’sStagecoach , and even though the moving picture featured an ensemble cast , his performance stole the show . While he have in everything from amorous dramatic play to state of war movies , he was also permanently type as a cowboy . John Wayne starred in 80 Westernsthroughout his 50 - yr vocation , with some of the most far-famed beingRed River , Rio BravoandTrue Grit .
peradventure the most iconic would beThe Searchers , a 1956 adventure where Wayne ’s caustic Civil War vet set out to deliver his kidnapped niece . The film is renowned for his fundamental operation , its photography and dismal themes , and is considered the very bestJohn Wayne / John Ford Westernamong notable rooter like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese . Its influence can be seen in everything from Scorsese’sTaxi Driver , the originalStar Warsand even the finale ofBreaking Bad .
Related : How John Wayne ’s The Searchers Inspired Star Wars
Paul Bettany’s Priest Remakes John Wayne’s The Searchers
This 2011 vampire movie is a beat-for-beat Searcher retread
Probablythe most unlikely moving picture inspired byThe SearchersisPriest , a 2011 post - revelatory action movie starring Paul Bettany . This was during the far too brief period when Bettany attempt to reinvent himself as an action star topology , follow his starring role in 2010’sLegionas a machine gun - totting Angel Falls . Priestreteamed Bettany withLegiondirector Scott Stewart as a fellow member of an order of warrior priests , who possess almost superhuman speed and specialty and battle a vicious breed of vampire .
The movie give up off age after the vampire scourge has supposedly been eradicated , with Bettany ’s titular character set off to rescue his snatch niece Lucy ( Lily Collins ) when she ’s shoot by vampires . The film string inspiration from any number of sources , includingMad MaxandJudge Dredd . Looking at the story , it becomes clearPriestpulls the most fromThe quester .
Priest atomic number 27 - star Karl Urban would later encounter the title role in Dredd .
From the setup of an outcast former soldier set out to rescue his kidnapped niece to threatening to bolt down her if she ’s infected , many of the narrative beats betweenPriestandThe Searchersare the same . In the case of the latter , Wayne ’s character plans to kill his niece Debbie because she ’s spend so long with the Comanche ; in both movies , the protagonist ’s young sidekick peril to stop them if they seek . WhilePriestdoesn’t quite recreateSearcher’sfamous ending , it did cut down a scene where Bettany ’s character says auf wiedersehen to Lucy after she ’s been rescued before bait off into the desert again .
Priest’s Ending Uses A Searchers Fan Theory
Priest’s ending reveals the hero’s kidnapped niece is really his daughter
Priestis such an homage to the Wayne classic it even uses sSearchersfan theorythat debate Debbie ( Natalie Wood ) is in reality Ethan ’s girl . The movie turn back several clues this is the case , such as the queerly intimate kinship between Ethan and his brother ’s wife Martha ( Dorothy Jordan ) . They exchange meaningful glances , while it ’s mention that Ethan was away for eight years - which is his niece ’s precise age when he in conclusion refund home .
This movie never sustain this one way or another , butPriestmakes this subtext into actual text . It reveals that when Bettany ’s character was taken to become a priest , he had to give up his wife and child girl , and his Fannie Farmer sidekick later looked after them both . This add a more excited heart to the movie ’s end , though it must be said , the subtextual overture is the more interesting one . In making Lucy the daughter of Priest , the moving-picture show is also lay seeds she could become a lamia killer herself in a future unveiling that never arrived .
Priest Proves The Searchers Should Never Be Remade
Priest fares badly next to the 1956 classic
Priestwas an endeavour to kickstart another Sony natural action saga in the nervure ofUnderworldorResident iniquity . The movie has rich production design , a unique feeler to lamia and a stack cast , which admit Maggie Q and the late , great Christopher Plummer . Even so , it ’s a disposable B - movie that recycles the genre ’s worst clichés and miss truly killer action scenes . Despite ending with a clear continuation minx , its half-hearted revenue rapidly killed that architectural plan . Needless to say , Priestis not the remake John Wayne’sThe Searchersdeservesand is proof some classic should be lead well alone .
