Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sounds like a strange silly title. Some might find it stupid while some will find it peculiarly interesting. People would expect it as a ridiculously fun bloody action film starring one of America's greatest Presidents. Since it's directed by Timur Bekmambetov, one of the most insane action movie directors ever, it suppose to be enjoyably crazy throughout. The film is fun when Abe is killing vampires with his axe, but it gets really different to the biography moments. While everybody is expecting for some awesome ridiculousness, we instead get a lot of serious biography that would take a lot of time to get to the vampire killing. It's entertaining but it could have been a lot more fun.

With that kind of title, people would expect it as a campy horror action film with a different version of Abraham Lincoln that has a potential to be a movie icon. It sounds absurd, but that is acceptable to its title. Unfortunately, its absurdity is limited by the seriousness of the biographical parts. Both elements are strangely mismatch. Made this film a lot more awkward than you would thought. There is nothing wrong with having an accurate history to it. It just feels a lot different when you compare Lincoln's rise to Presidency to the whole vampire slaying sequences. It gets interesting when Henry Strugess distracts at Lincoln's personal life. Every time he appears, it makes you ready for some vampire action.

Thankfully, it has Timur Bekmambetov as the director. He's also a vampire movie expert by his Night Watch films. He can make his action scenes impossibly crazy that makes the whole experience a none stop entertainment. Too bad there isn't any glass for him to break in a ridiculously stylish way like he did in his other films. At least we still get to see something interesting, like Abe's axe spinning, throwing a vampire up to the sky, and turning that horse stampede chase into a large scale sequence. The rest is not quite inspired, but it still makes a pretty awesome action film. Like I wish it has more that. It's still entertaining for some reason. The WETA visuals look obvious. It fits well to the director's crazy vision.

It's hard to recommend Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's not as ridiculous as the title. It connects to Lincoln's life in a serious way. They could have at least give a bit more campier and sillier tone to make this alternate version of Lincoln iconic. Even with an awesome director, energetic cast, and vampires that look scary and kill horrifyingly, it's still not a satisfying vampiric onslaught. It's not horrible or boring either. It just needs to be an endless crazy action movie.

This movie was surprisingly entertaining, which I doubted when I saw the trailer. It begins slow but steadily gains speed throughout the film. Though it doesn't get as good as a good vampire film should, it offers a fictional story with a non-fictional setting and characters. Benjamin Walker gives a good performance as the president who believes in vampires. Dominic Cooper as Henry was OK but could of been better. Mary Elizabeth Winstead I believe was miscast in her role as Mary Todd, she was too young for me too believe her as an older Mary Todd. Other than that the film was generally entertaining if leading away to boring conversation parts. The fight scenes are done well and the weapon of choice: An Axe, which is well used in this film. If you like Abraham Lincoln and you like Vampires then you will love this movie!. Thanks for reading and enjoy the Film.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

*** (out of 4)

This horror/action film sets up to tell the true story of Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) who witnessed his mother getting killed by a vampire so he dedicates his life to stopping the bloodsucking creatures. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER might have a silly title but it's actually a fairly ambitious little movie that really took me by surprise. Going by the trailer you'd think that this film was just going to try and do a BUBBA HO TEP and takes a historical figure and make some cheap thrills out of him killing vampires. There's no doubt that the "cheap thrill" aspect is on full display here but the film actually goes a bit further by tying all of these events into common knowledge surrounding Lincoln's life. Not only do we get the vampire stuff but it's pretty well blended in with various historical truths like Lincoln becoming a lawyer, marrying Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and we go all the way up to the Civil War. The final thirty-minutes actually take place during the Civil War and the way the writers used slavery and the vampires was pretty interesting. With that said, I really hope no one goes into this movie expecting historical accuracies (they'd be crazy right?). Walker actually does a very good job at playing Lincoln. I thought he was very believable playing the good soul as well as the action hero. Dominic Cooper was excellent as his mentor and Anthony Mackie is also very good in his role as a black man who aids Lincoln. Even Winstead is good in her part even though the screenplay doesn't do her character much justice. The one major issue I had with the film was the incredibly bad CGI effects. I thought there were some that was so bad that you'd expect to be seeing them in a SyFy movie. Just take a look at the scene where Lincoln in chopping the tree or a really embarrassing sequence dealing with horses. The slow motion action scenes also weren't all that entertaining. With that said, I really liked the way director Timur Bekmambetov built up the atmosphere of the 1800's. I was really surprised how how authentic everything was and I think this is a reason why the CGI looks even worse. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER should have been a really, really bad movie but I think for the most part they got it right and those with a little knowledge of the real history around the war should find the touches interesting.

Summary: The movie has horrible plot holes and inconsistencies but it makes for a good "popcorn" movie. It can be very entertaining and funny but outside of that, there's really not much. 6/10

Characters: About 3 of the characters develop (slightly) and the rest are left to rot in their horrible cliché state of blandness and stereotypes. 4/10

Effects: This is one of the better parts of the film. The effects are good and at some points great. They fit well with the action scenes. At one point in the movie, I remember it didn't feel like I was watching a movie due to the amount of action and great effects. But it was short-lived due to the silly plot. 8/10

Plot: PFFFFFFT. It's bad. Really bad. But funny. Very funny. 5/10

Should I see it?: But if you're bored one night and have some dough to waste for a couple of cheap laughs and good action scenes, this movie is fine for you.

If you're looking for something deep or for a classic movie you can remember for this summer, this movie isn't it.

Just got back from an advanced screening that was the (according to the director) first screening seen by people outside of the cast/crew of the movie. Overall I was very impressed, having never read the book I did not really know what to expect. Acting was good, nothing Oscar worthy but no poor performances. Everyone did their job well, especially Benjamin Walker and Dominic Cooper. They both excelled in their roles as Lincoln and Henry respectively. Plot flowed well and was easy to follow, and the action was absolutely fantastic. It was over the top, fast paced, bloody, and very well done. If you don't mind seeing vampires getting hacked, slashed, and bashed to death in a wide variety of ways, you'll enjoy this movie.