Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

The title says it all. You get not just the plot, but the style and the tone. Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) is not only a vampire hunter, but his life has been defined by vampires for a long time. His mother was killed by a vampire. As a young man, he tries to seek revenge but fails. But in the process, he meets Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper) who teaches him how to kill a vampire. During the Civil War as President of the United States, he comes to realize that vampires are fighting with the Confederate forces. As a result he mounts his own campaign to defeat them.

Benjamin Walker is not big enough to anchor this movie. For the lead, they really should have gotten a bigger name and a more compelling actor. There was some really slow moments in the middle, but a vampire threw a horse.... A HORSE. That's worth the money to see for the right audience. This is a ridiculous concept. It could have more fun moments like the horse.

This is what a comedy-action-horror should be like. A preposterous idea mixed with some drama, wit, scares and decent enough CGI. Because of events he saw as a child Lincoln trains to become a vampire hunter with the assistance of Dominic Cooper.

He wants to hunt down Rufus Sewell who is the leader of the pack and before long Sewell plans to lead the South against Lincoln who is now President but not before inflicting another personal tragedy on the Lincoln family.

At least Benjamin Walker did not have to go through some faux type Daniel Day Lewis authenticity for his version of Lincoln. It was wielding axes, swords and other instruments of vampire death.

The action mixes historical fact and fiction with cartoon like action. Its fun although the movie makers might have taken things a tad too seriously in light of the fact that a Spielberg epic on Lincoln was around the corner.

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.

If you take this movie so serious you'll be disappointed 'cause it's not. But if you take it as fun movie, fulled of action/fantasy/horror scenes and as what it is then you can give it a chance. Maybe, the character of Abraham Lincoln defined as vampire slayer is naive and childish and is not what you expected to see for historical important figure. Maybe someone thinks that this is disgrace for the character. And finally maybe someone thinks there is a storyline abstraction 'cause the book is better and I don't doubt that even I haven't read it. All this defects are not so important if you like movies in this kind of genre like Underworld, Resident Evil etc. This was a movie that deserves attention and give it a try.

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.