At the tender age of nine years old, Abraham Lincoln (played as an adult by Benjamin Walker) watched in horror as his mother died, poisoned at the hands of the mysterious Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). Vowing to avenge her murder, Lincoln spent years tracking Barts, but a failed attempt at killing him leaves Lincoln battered, beaten, and bloodied. He's mended to health by Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), who reveals to Lincoln that Barts is a vampire and trains him in the ways of permanently eliminating these nocturnal bloodsuckers.
Settling in as a shopkeeper in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln has no trouble finding vampires to hunt. One by one, each vampire he kills leads him closer to Barts. The years pass, and he becomes a lawyer and eventually enters the world of politics while still battling the forces of darkness with his trusty silver axe. As he courts and eventually marries Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Lincoln ascends to the office of President of the United States of America. But he is not in office for long before he's hit with the one-two punch of the Civil War and a vampire with a personal vendetta against Lincoln.
Said vampire is Adam (Rufus Sewell), a 5000-year-old vampire whose slave trade is threatened by Lincoln's vehement opposition to slavery. Learning that Lincoln is a vampire hunter thanks to clues left behind at Lincoln's final battle with Barts, he declares a personal war against the President. He supplies the Confederate army with a team of vampire soldiers, aiming to turn the tide of the Civil War and make America a nation of vampires. And of course, Lincoln wouldn't be much of a vampire hunter if he just let this slide.
With this title and premise, you'd think that Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter would be some kind of satirical tongue-in-cheek affair similar to Snakes on a Plane or Hobo with a Shotgun. But the movie bravely takes itself seriously and resembles something akin to a superhero origin story. And while it's been getting lukewarm reviews from critics who will try telling you that the movie is dumb, dull, and nothing more than a goofy title, I thought the movie was a hell of a lot of fun.
At the helm is Timur Bekmambetov, making his first American movie since his adaptation of Mark Millar's comic book Wanted in 2008. Bekmambetov approaches this movie as no stranger to vampires, as his prior credits include the successful Russian vampire movies Night Watch and Day Watch. I haven't seen Night Watch or Day Watch, so I can't really compare them to this. But I can, however, say that I enjoyed his work here. His direction is very good, working to make the movie as cool and as stylish as possible while still retaining a 19th-century feeling. The fight scenes are fun and exciting, and the slower-paced, more dramatic scenes are handled delicately. It's like Bekmambetov was trying to make a version of Jonah Hex that didn't suck. If that were the case, then maybe Warner Bros. should have hired him to direct that piece of crap instead of Jimmy Hayward.
The movie is in 3D too, which sounds like it could have been really cool. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from the typical sub-standard post-production conversion, thus rendering the 3D less effective than it could have been. There are some moments that look really cool, and the 3D is decent enough for the most part. But the whole thing comes off as unnecessary. The movie didn't need to be in 3D. All truth told, you shouldn't feel obligated to pay the extra surcharge on your ticket when the 2D version of the movie will suffice.
But enough about the 3D, let's move on. Next up is the script penned by Seth Grahame-Smith. I thought hiring Grahame-Smith to write the movie was a creative idea, because he actually wrote the novel it's based on. Published in 2010, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was the follow-up to his popular book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (If you've never heard of that one, yes, he did indeed add zombies [and ninjas!] to Jane Austen's classic novel.) I've never read the source material, but I thought Grahame-Smith's script for the movie was give or take. There's a lot of it I did like, though. I especially liked how the movie took the bold step of never descending into self-parody. I've read a lot of reviews lately where the critics were upset that the movie wasn't as farcical as its rather preposterous title and premise might imply, but I thought it was refreshing. After a while, one grows tired of seeing so many movies that play their wacky concepts for laughs. I had a good time seeing one that played it straight for a change.
However, even though the movie clocks in at roughly two hours or so, I thought the script glossed over or rushed through some things. We spend quite a bit of time with Lincoln as he works as a shopkeeper and studies law. And after that, there are a handful of scenes at the beginning of his political career. And then we're suddenly dropped smack dab in the middle of the Civil War. I can understand skipping over a few years here and there, but it felt like the fast-forward button got stuck during the middle of the movie.
The movie also drags somewhat during the second act. The first 45 minutes and the climax are really great, but that middle portion struggled at times. I don't know what it was, but that segment of the movie is where you could get up and go to the bathroom during the movie and return without feeling like you missed too much.
And I know I sound like I'm ragging on the movie a lot, but there are parts of it I did genuinely enjoy, especially the cast. The actors and actresses assembled in front of the camera all do the absolute best they can do. This is none more evident than in Benjamin Walker, who plays the titular President and vampire hunter. Walker is likable and engaging, and he plays Lincoln with a strength and conviction that makes him very convincing in the role.
Dominic Cooper also plays the part he's given very well, approaching the "jaded mentor" role with a necessary earnestness. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is fantastic as she always is, but the role isn't as meaty as it could have been. She gets some awesome moments to shine, but I'd hoped for a little more from the character. The same goes for Rufus Sewell as the villainous Adam, who sadly isn't given a whole lot to do. But Sewell tackles the role like a pro and still puts forth a solid performance.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter balances some good elements with some bad elements, but never lets either side of this balancing act completely dominate it. And though it isn't a perfect movie, it's fun enough for what it is. So on my usual scale, the movie gets three and a half stars and a recommendation to check it out. The worst part of it all is that, since the movie ends with Lincoln heading to Ford's Theatre on the eve of his assassination, there more than likely won't be a sequel. But maybe somebody can start doing knockoffs with other Presidents fighting supernatural creatures. The Asylum has already released a mockbuster titled Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, but I want to see something like "JFK: Werewolf Slayer" or "George Washington vs. Frankenstein." That would be awesome.
Final Rating: ***½
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