Priest 3D

In Priest, an exiled warrior must save humanity from a race of murderous vampires. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic alternate world—one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. Legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Director Scott Stewart, Writer Cory Goodman, Paul Bettany, and Maggie Q; seven deleted and extended scenes (SD 12:31); the making-of featurettes The Bloody Frontier: Creating The World Of Priest (HD 12:49) and the interactive Tools Of The Trade: The Weapons And Vehicles; Bullets And Crucifixes: Picture-In-Picture (2D Bonus View) Experience; movieIQ+sync; the "Uncharted3: Drake's Deception" HD game trailer; and BD-Live functionality.

The 2.40:1 1080p MVC picture is the result of a 2D-to 3D-conversion largely performed by Venture 3D, Conversion Works, Trixer, Lucent Pictures Entertainment, and Legend3D, who also performed the conversion footage on Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. Shot in the native anamorphic Panavision format, the 2-D version looks terrific and is reference quality in every picture-quality parameter. The picture is extremely dark in character, especially during the nighttime city segments and hive sequences. To optimize such challenging black levels requires a display device capable of exceptional native contrast ratio performance viewed in a light-controlled environment, preferably in a blackened environment. Otherwise, significant picture qualities in the dark scenes will be entirely unviewable. The black levels are truly impressive, as is the extent of revealing shadow delineation. Resolution is excellent and reveals fine detail in facial features, clothing, and object textures; particularly during close-ups and in the brighter scenes. Color is limited, resulting in a perceptional de-emphasis, yet always naturally hued. The picture is thoroughly cinematic in character, with excellent cinematography throughout. The 3-D rendering is remarkably excellent, especially given that this is a conversion and with the characteristic dark visual character. Depth is perceptually dimensional, even during intense dark scenes, such as the hive segments, with deeply dug tunnels, and characters appear naturally volumetric. The conversion replicates the resolution characteristics and textural detail of the 2-D version. The 3-D treatment definitely enhances the picture experience and intensifies the horrific dramatics of the storytelling. Overall, the perception of depth takes place in the positive parallax behind the screen plane, which delivers a comfortable viewing experience. There are few instances of negative parallax action. Some minor crosstalk ghosting was noticeable on our reference system. As a conversion, the picture succeeds as the preferred version to view. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is exciting and energetic throughout, with a spectacularly aggressive surround presence. The music score sets the dramatic tone and is executed with a wide and deep soundstage presence that aggressively extends into the surrounds to provide a dynamic soundfield sonic experience. Atmospherics and sound effects are effectively rendered to heighten the sense of holosonic® envelopment and other world soundscapes, all the while creating an eerie sense of ambiance and dramatic directionalized sonic effect. The intense action scenes are perfectly enhanced with a spectacular rendering of sonics, weighted by an aggressive .1 LFE channel with sub-25 Hz bass energy that heightens storytelling. Dialogue sounds perfectly natural and well integrated except when challenged by loud atmospherics and sound effects, which slightly strains intelligibility. This is a well-crafted soundtrack that is not reserved and delivers an exciting sonic experience. (Gary Reber)