Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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.

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.

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.

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.