Director Scott Stewart (Legion) helms this futuristic tale of a barren world under siege. Priest Paul Bettany is one of an elite cadre of clerics who fought the vampire hordes and wiped the revenants out. An attack on a desert outpost convinces him the vamps are back, but he must defy the Church (and padre Christopher Plummer) to investigate. He teams up with a cowboy (Cam Gigandet) and a priestess (Maggie Q), and they're off on motorbikes to the vampire hive. Based on Min-Woo Hyung's graphic novel, this glossy adaptation has superb production design that nods to sci-fi-hybrid classics like Blade Runner and Brazil. The animated prologue is a high point, as are allegorical moments linking the special-forces priests with their modern counterparts. As happens with big-screen comics, the dialogue fizzles at times. But mostly this is a delicious mash-up of styles and genres: gothic, steampunk, Wild West, martial arts, dystopian fun.
