Review of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) by William C — 22 Mar 2015

Grade: Firmly within 6/10.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fantasy horror movie presenting a rather warped view of history, and boy does it bring along some action with it. With crazy fight scenes and a rather serious tone too, this is one movie that can bend the way you look at it. It is enjoyable though, and despite what some say about its rather stupid tones, it is still fun and just rather exciting, an OK film but fun all round in my opinion.

To be fair the movie is pretty silly in it's premise, because not only is it about the 16th president of the United States killing vampires like cows in a slaughter house, but also brings in actual events and claims some important parts of history involved vampires in some way, although fictional still kind of stupid at times. I did however enjoy the story and the writing is done well by Seth Grahame-Smith who is also the author of the book this is based on and he manages to create not only an interesting plot but one that never makes you bored or feel this is just another take on vampires.

I found the acting side to be slightly on the dull side, now it isn't that the cast do bad or anything but they can feel slightly bored and not utilized enough. Benjamin Walker as Lincoln(who happens to look like a young Liam Neeson) is OK and manages the main role well, other cast such as Dominic Cooper, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rufus Sewell all do well and I can't really say any ruin the film at any point, just as I say sometimes it feels the fighting choreography and effects overshadow the acting.

When we come to the fighting it is ferocious stuff, and very very fast paced so don't blink or you may miss yet another decapitation. Timur Bekmambetov directs this and his experience with his film "Wanted" really comes into shape here with all the slow motion but then straight back to fast fighting and an array of gravity defying stunts and weapons people of the day could only dream of owning. The horror element that comes with this is good, but what I will say is that sometimes the horror can be only around the beginning and the fighting and gore can overshadow the truly scary parts, still there though.

This isn't a movie typical among monster like films, now that does come mostly from the fact this is Abraham Lincoln here but it also feels different, the vampires seem apart from the usual bunch and can be both good and bad. The vampires are of course blood suckers but it still explains more about them than some films do and also brings a certain humanity to them in the ways you can kill them. I want to just also say about the effects used, now they are not the best but not the worst and for the budget this movie has they are OK. One thing I need to mention though is there over use, at times the action is too intense and so the CGI comes in and kind of takes out the feeling of the time this is set, and any minor feeling that Lincoln could have actually hunted vampires.

Overall I felt it to be just about OK and one movie that although divides critics, certainly can be liked by many. If your looking for something to rent say on a night then this is a good little watch and find, with an axe wielding president, vampires with the most repulsive attack face and a weird kind of history lesson, this is a definite must see for action fans, but really not for your typical history classes.