Holy Mission The colorful and cruel animated prologue of the film plunges deep into the alternate course of human history - into a world where people have long been at odds with vampires. Moreover, bloodsuckers here are represented by a mixture of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings and Lizun from the first Resident of Evil. By the way, there is also an individual of the Hive Guardian, similar to the above-mentioned Lizun, but after the final mutation. In general, eyeless, beast-shaped, predatory and wild creatures of an anti-gray shade do not give rest to people, serving their queen (in the manner of “Aliens”) and from time to time enslaving individual personalities into servants – familiars.
Habitual in most films, the image of a human vampire is presented only by charismatic Carl Urban, who fit into his image just perfectly! The magnificent main villain, albeit of a very template pattern, turned out to be a cruel and cunning person with plans for a peculiar capture of the world. One of a kind, it is a chic and valuable acquisition of the cast rises above the crowds of vampire animals and their pale wild puppets.
However, it is rather strange to see how well-intelligent and sighted familiars really serve some wild beast. However, the conventions of the universe films are set from the very beginning so tightly and saturated that other questions that appear in the course of the action can be omitted. They will still remain unanswered, but a valuable unfolding adventure about the fight against evil not by plot or logic, but by the action and anti-vampire gadgets of the protagonist.
Paul Bettany essentially replays Silas from The Da Vinci Code, an equally dedicated minister of the church, but this time in a positive way and with an even more significant plot role. With scars and a void in his eyes, trained to kill and a talent for this craft, with a bunch of fun church gadgets to fight the forces of darkness, he is called to protect humanity, as well as all the shepherds on whom lies the sacred mission to rid the world of vampires.
The team of shepherd heroes was picked up very bright, but Urban too quickly “leaves” it, three more are practically not revealed and did not manifest themselves in any way, and only Bettany and his combat friend – Alice, who imagines herself from the third “Residence of Evil” Maggie Cue, present interesting heroes who are actively involved in the main events of the film.
The story, by the way, turned out to be very linear. Yes, with a couple of plot twists, but their modest number is just as modest and in quality, such moves are found all the time, nothing really surprising of itself without presenting. The film is not empty, as someone will probably claim, it is simply too simple and ordinary for the genre of similar paintings and plots. It has competent thoughts and correct ideas, everything is available and lies on the surface, so you do not want to scold the plot of the picture.
In addition, all attention is held by a good selection of actors for their types and overall dynamics of action. From the casting still casually want to note the appearance of Brad Durif, the character of Christopher Plummer, and the charming Lily Collins! The last in the pair went to the hero Cam Gigande, who never had to clearly heroize despite the skills and ambitions given to his character. I wish he was more active in the final act than he was. And too often about Cam is forgotten during long action scenes.
But the action scenes themselves should be deservedly praised, the fight against evil spirits is exposed to a wonderful combination of cool ideas, dynamic shooting and elements of slow-mo. The textures and appearance of vampires worked out for glory and the battles with these nocturnal creatures turned out to be exciting, cruel and bloody. True R rating picture still lacks, censorship video for children's PG-13 does not allow to reveal all the battle potential. And the movie action looks an order of magnitude worse than the bloody slaughter of the animated intro.
Landscapes, both the “church” megacities of the future and the devastation in the post-apocalyptic desert, have succeeded to glory. There is even a bit of a “wild west” atmosphere. In good 3D, they look even more impressive panoramas, and attention to traveling on the map of this world was paid a lot, delighting the camera work of the talented Don Burgess at the level of his own shooting of similar landscapes “The Book of Eli”.
And it’s very gratifying to admit that the film, which by skepticism and apprehension could become a terrible combination of the nightmarish “Legion” and incomparable “Warriors of Light”, turned out to be a real cool analogue of “Blade” in the post-apocalyptic era of church totalitarianism! Perhaps Stewart is not the best director for the production of such a superhero comic book about a vampire fighter, but he managed to make a clear and interesting movie. And even with all the flaws of the script, the visual action and landscapes capture and look great, and the plot was presented even in a very predictable concept.
“Shepherd” turned out to be a great example of a picture about the fight against evil. Brightly showing the separation of the concepts of faith and church, as well as instructively stimulating to purposefulness regardless of the framework and obstacles, this comic book turned out to be simple in its ideas and perfectly entertaining in its plot action. It looks good, looks spectacular and not rarely pleases pleasantly predictable developments. A great movie that is definitely worth watching!
7 IS 10
Original