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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
USA / Russia 2012
produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Tim Burton, Jim Lemley, Seth Grahame-Smith (executive), John J. Kelly (executive), Simon Kinberg (executive), Michele Wolkoff (executive) for Bazelevs Company, Dune Entertainment, Tim Burton Productions/20th Century Fox
directed by Timur Bekmambetov
starring Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson, Joseph Mawle, Robin McLeavy, Erin Wasson, John Rothman, Cameron M. Brown, Frank Brennan, Lux Haney-Jardine, Curtis Harris, Bill Martin Williams, Alex Lombard, Raevin Stinson, Jaqueline Fleming, John Neisler, Aaron Toney, Meade Patton, Teri Wyble, Lawrence Turner, Jake La Botz, Dane Rhodes, Earl Maddox, John McConnell, Bernard Hocke
screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his novel, music by Henry Jackman, special effects by Spectrum Effects, prosthetics by Autonomous FX, visual effects by Method Studios, Weta Digital, CGF, Soho VFX, Spin VFX, Rodeo FX
Abraham Lincoln
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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When he was young, Abraham Lincoln (as a kid played by Lux
Haney-Jardine) wintessed a slave driver, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), beat
up his (black) best friend Will (as a kid played by Curtis Harris), and
when he and his father Thomas (Joseph Mawle) intervened, Barts vowed
revenge and later took the life of Abraham's mother Nancy (Robin McLeavy).
Now, Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) wants revenge, but when he tries to
shoot Barts, he finds that bullets can't hurt him and he has superhuman
strength. And it seems Lincoln has breathed his last when a mysterious
stranger, Henry (Dominic Cooper) intervenes and saves him. Now Henry
claims to be a vampire hunter, and he also claims Barts is a vampire, and
tells Lincoln he'll only be able to kill him if he's properly trained by
someone like Henry ... and thus, Henry trains him, then sends him on
assignments, and Lincoln becomes a great vampire killer, so much so that
he attracts the attention of head vampire Adam (Rufus Sewell). At the same
time though, Lincoln falls in love with lovely Mary (Mary Elizabeth
Winstead), but knowing his lifestyle would put her in danger, he pushes
her away. At the same time he grows increasingly frustrated because Henry
doesn't yet let him kill Barts - so much so that Henry lets him. Then
though Lincoln finds out Henry is himself a vampire, if a reluctant one,
and turns his back on Henry and the whole vampire-killing thing to
concentrate on politics - which is when Adam has Lincoln's best friend
Will (now played by Anthony Mackie), so he and his other best friend and
employer Speed (Jimmi Simpson) must come to the rescue ... to find that
Adam wants to strike a deal, seeing great potential in Lincoln the
politician and wanting him to grant equal rights for vampires. But Lincoln
turns Adam down, and he and Speed and Will manage to make a hasty escape. Lincoln
marries Mary, rises in political ranks all the way to presidency, and vows
to end slavery - which eventually leads to war with the slave-keeping
South, led by Confederate president Jefferson Davis (John Rothman). The
North start winning of course, but then Adam strikes a deal with Davis,
and soon the South employs vampires in their ranks. And the vampires send
a warning to Lincoln by killing his young son (Cameron M. Brown) - but
that makes him all the more determined to kill all vampires once and for
all, and so he has all silver (the one thing that's deadly to vampires)
collected in all the North to eventually melt it into bullets and
cannonballs. And all he, Will, Speed, and Henry - who despite Lincoln
abandoning vampire hunting always remained by his side - have to do now is
to ship it by train to Gettysburg. But Speed has betrayed the plan to
Adam, so Adam and company attack the train and set fire on it, to get rid
of Lincoln, Henry, and their valuable cargo all in one sweep ... Abraham
Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sounds like a fun concept, and it suggests
everything from political satire and historical farce to just broad
comedy. Instead, the film is dead serious - and one has to admit, apart
from the effects work, this one looks pretty good, always gets the mood
right, and does carry an atmosphere of unease. Plus, the fight scenes are
full of ideas one usually more associates with cinema from the far east,
and are mostly well-conceived - if it wasn't for the CGI work that's
employed just a bit too frequently to supposedly give the scenes an extra
shine, but actually making them look unreal. And many of the larger scale
action scenes look like right out of a video game (and it's more than
likely that they were made by many of the same people and programs usually
employed by video game companies. So the battle scenes, when they go into
wide range, just feel fake, as does the whole train sequence. One never
gets the feel they're using an actual, full size train for the exteriors.
But that's only the smaller problem of the movie, the big one is in its
writing: It just never takes advantage of its premise, Lincoln's vampire
hunting isn't thoroughly intertwined with his political career, no
connection is made between vampirism and slavery. Also the whole story is
told as factual, with no irony or whatever - things a concept like this
seems to pretty much imply. Plus, Lincoln isn't given any character arc,
no moral dilemmas of the like, we pretty much just have to accept him as
the good guy. So basically what we're left with is a soulless
blockbuster - that though failed at the box office.
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