Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
3/4
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson
Rated R for Violence Throughout and Brief Sexuality
With a title like this, you already have some idea of what to expect. One of our nation's best and most beloved presidents swinging an ax (with the blade coated in silver) and brutally dispatching bloodsuckers. How cool is that?
Young Abraham Lincoln (Lux Haney-Jardine) witnesses a brutal man viciously whipping a young black boy named Will (Curtis Harris). Despite the warnings of his father, Abe stops the man, named Barts (Csokas) and ends up getting beat himself. His father steps in and the whole thing ends up with a minor scuffle. Barts wants revenge, and ends up sucking the blood of Abe's mother that night. Vowing revenge, Abe waits until his father has died, and then goes after Barts. It's a failure, because Abe (now played by Walker) doesn't know how to kill vampires. In steps Henry Sturgess (Cooper), who teaches him the way of the Vampire Hunter. But Barts isn't the only vampire in town. Their leader, a nasty piece of work named Adam (Sewell), intends to make the whole South a haven for vampires. Lincoln realizes that going into politics can be a great help in controlling the spread of the bloodsuckers, but war is coming, and they intend to take over everything.
There are some good things about this movie and some not so good things. First are the performances. The acting is strong across the board. Relative newcomer Benjamin Walker (now the son-in-law of Meryl Streep) makes a terrific debut as Lincoln. He plays the man with gravitas and presence but doesn't take things too seriously. This isn't masterpiece theater, after all (for those who crave something a little more realistic, Spielberg's Lincoln biopic is coming out in December). Dominic Cooper continues to stretch his range as the Mr. Miyagi of the movie. Also very good is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Mary Todd with spirit and fire.
The bad thing is that the script is arguably too condensed. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, and the connection between vampirism and slavery is poorly explained. Since the latter is a serious building block of the plot, that's a big problem (although I might have missed it...I'll have to see it again to make sure).
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" was directed by Russian superstar Timur Bekmambetov, who directed the Russian "World of Watches" trilogy before coming to the US and directing "Wanted." Bekmambetov's style is active and kinetic, which suits the material. His style brings to mind John Woo and Zack Snyder, whose uses of slo-mo are skillful and adrenaline and testosterone inducing. He does take things a little too seriously though, although that's really the fault of the script by Seth Grahame-Smith (based on his cult book). Additionally, he cuts a little too frequently in some action scenes, which makes it hard to tell who is who, especially since many characters look alike.
Still, I had fun, and if you know what you're getting into, so will you.
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson
Rated R for Violence Throughout and Brief Sexuality
With a title like this, you already have some idea of what to expect. One of our nation's best and most beloved presidents swinging an ax (with the blade coated in silver) and brutally dispatching bloodsuckers. How cool is that?
Young Abraham Lincoln (Lux Haney-Jardine) witnesses a brutal man viciously whipping a young black boy named Will (Curtis Harris). Despite the warnings of his father, Abe stops the man, named Barts (Csokas) and ends up getting beat himself. His father steps in and the whole thing ends up with a minor scuffle. Barts wants revenge, and ends up sucking the blood of Abe's mother that night. Vowing revenge, Abe waits until his father has died, and then goes after Barts. It's a failure, because Abe (now played by Walker) doesn't know how to kill vampires. In steps Henry Sturgess (Cooper), who teaches him the way of the Vampire Hunter. But Barts isn't the only vampire in town. Their leader, a nasty piece of work named Adam (Sewell), intends to make the whole South a haven for vampires. Lincoln realizes that going into politics can be a great help in controlling the spread of the bloodsuckers, but war is coming, and they intend to take over everything.
There are some good things about this movie and some not so good things. First are the performances. The acting is strong across the board. Relative newcomer Benjamin Walker (now the son-in-law of Meryl Streep) makes a terrific debut as Lincoln. He plays the man with gravitas and presence but doesn't take things too seriously. This isn't masterpiece theater, after all (for those who crave something a little more realistic, Spielberg's Lincoln biopic is coming out in December). Dominic Cooper continues to stretch his range as the Mr. Miyagi of the movie. Also very good is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Mary Todd with spirit and fire.
The bad thing is that the script is arguably too condensed. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, and the connection between vampirism and slavery is poorly explained. Since the latter is a serious building block of the plot, that's a big problem (although I might have missed it...I'll have to see it again to make sure).
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" was directed by Russian superstar Timur Bekmambetov, who directed the Russian "World of Watches" trilogy before coming to the US and directing "Wanted." Bekmambetov's style is active and kinetic, which suits the material. His style brings to mind John Woo and Zack Snyder, whose uses of slo-mo are skillful and adrenaline and testosterone inducing. He does take things a little too seriously though, although that's really the fault of the script by Seth Grahame-Smith (based on his cult book). Additionally, he cuts a little too frequently in some action scenes, which makes it hard to tell who is who, especially since many characters look alike.
Still, I had fun, and if you know what you're getting into, so will you.
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