Friday, July 06, 2012

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter - Movie Review


Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter 

Who's in it? 

Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper

What's it About? 

Based on the 2010 book of the same name Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter tells the story supposedly taken from Abraham Lincoln's secret diaries. It follows his tireless fight to stop vampires taking over the United States of America.

Any Good?

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted), produced by Tim Burton (Johnny Depp's better half) and with a title such as this, this movie could never fail to be less than darkly comic and ridiculously hyper real. 

As a young boy Abe witnesses his mother's murder by a vampire, for this, he vows his revenge on the perpetrator. It's not until he is about to exact that revenge that he meets Henry, a mysterious stranger whom, not only saves his life but changes it irrevocably. There naturally follows a kick ass montage of the transition of Abe Lincoln, Whingebag to Abe Lincoln, Axe Wielding, Vampire Hunting Machine with Super Human Strength. Naturally

Benjamin Walker or a young Liam Neeson. Either Or. 
Sent away to Springfield to do Henry's bidding, Abe encounters friends Speed (Simpson), Johnson (Mackie) and his love interest Mary Todd (Winstead). While certainly up to the task of their supporting roles, their characters are never truly fleshed out, which was a bit of a let down, that was presumably to allow for the the hunting and axing of the bitey folks to take centre stage, thankfully, it did.

The hand to hand combat, the impossible angles and the scary feckin vampire eyes were as much a joy as were the more intimate scenes between the characters. The set pieces were beautifully designed, seeing the vampires side by side with the confederate forces on the Civil War battlefields were a personal favourite, the astoundingly outlandish fight scene with the horses was another but both were trumped by the over the top, wonderfully ridiculous final hurrah on the railway.
 

Yep, just two chaps, standing on the roof of a train, hurtling into oblivion, nothin' strange here..
On the whole, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter is firmly in the 'so bad it's good' camp for me. I spent the entire movie rolling my eyes and shaking my head but the smile never left my lips (apart from the twice that I physically lept from the chair with fright). The story is so far fetched, despite the attempts to cut and paste it into actual historical events, that you can't help but laugh. The lads spent the entire following day recalling scenes and laughing as they did, if that's not the sign of an enjoyable movie experience I'm not sure what is. 

We watched Abe Lincoln in 3D iSense and thoroughly enjoyed it, there has been rumblings of the picture being too dark for enjoyment in regular 3D, so, given the option, 2D would be your best bet to avoid any such issues. If it's a chuckle and a slick fight scene or two you're after though, this kick ass telling of the 16th President's hunting pass time is the one for you. 

If you've seen Abe already I'd genuinely love to hear your thoughts or even your review in the comments below. 


Rating: 


5 comments:

Unknown said...

I. Really loved abe I thought the fight scenes looked real enough even thought they were some kind of movie wizardy .. Except the Horse fight scene

I didn't see it in 3d and thought it would have been deadly in 3d

Sue Jordan said...

Wasn't the horse fight ridonkulous? Really enjoyed it :)

Unknown said...

Enjoyed this movie a lot, thought with the beard he looked a lot like our own Liam Neeson. or maybe its just me.
Not as bad as some of the movies out there, thank god, but still a good waste of 2 hours or so. sure ya cant help but leave your brain at home sometimes when you are going to watch a movie ;)

Unknown said...

I’m glad you guys liked it as much as I did! I was starting to think I was the only one who had fun with this movie. I’ve been hearing all over the place how disappointed everyone was. My friends, my coworkers at Dish, even the people in the theater with me all expressed negative opinions about the plot. The movie is about a vampire killing Abe Lincoln; plot holes are to be expected! Differing opinions aside, I wish people would at least keep their thoughts to themselves while the movie is playing. My fellow movie-watchers were so obnoxious! They certainly reminded me of why I usually prefer watching movies at home with my Blockbuster@Home service I get through my Dish account; that way I can crack open a drink mid-movie as well. ;)

Sue Jordan said...

He's the image of Liam! You're 100% right though, Dave, this is a switch off the grey matter and just enjoy kind of movie - sometimes that's just what the doctor ordered :)