Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Though I was never bored while watching Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I did get a little frustrated with it at a certain point. I kept on waiting for the movie to truly take off and take advantage of its idea of reinventing our 16th President as a kind of 19th Century superhero. A movie built around Honest Abe as an ax-wielding slayer of the undead has to be a lot of fun, and to a certain point, it is. But then, the film just starts spinning its wheels, not sure where to go. Sure is pretty to look at, though.

The first (and strongest) half of the film chronicles how Abe Lincoln learned the existence of vampires at a very young age, when he witnessed one murder his mother as a small boy. At the time, he wasn't quite sure of what the demonic killer was, as he only got a brief glimpse of it. But, it has haunted him, and as a young man in his 20s (now played by relative newcomer Benjamin Walker), he vows vengeance on her killer, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). Abraham does track down the elusive Jack, but his quest for vengeance almost ends as soon as it begins, as Jack is obviously a vampire, and possesses inhuman strength. Fortunately, Abe's life is saved that night by the mysterious Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), a hunter who has been waging war against the undead for years, and knows all the tricks of the vampire hunting trade. Abe pleads with Henry to make him his apprentice, and after a training montage, Henry sends him off to Springfield, IL to dispose of the growing vampire menace.

In his new surroundings, Abe studies law, kills a vampire whenever Henry sends him a letter indicating his next target, and even finds time to fall in love with lovely Mary Todd (a very likable Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He also gets into politics, and eventually becomes President, which the movie kind of glosses over. In fact, it's around this point that the narrative itself becomes somewhat muddled, and turns into a series of loosely connected scenes. When he becomes President, Lincoln tries to hang up his ax, but those pesky vampires just refuse to let go of past grudges. Not only do they align themselves with the Confederates when the Civil War breaks out (the vampires need the black slaves to feed on), but one of them even sneaks into Abe's house, and murders his young son.

Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) starts by giving this film a somewhat dark fanciful tone, which works with the revisionist history tone of the story. But then, the screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith (who wrote the novel this film was based on, as well as last month's movie about vampires, Dark Shadows) starts to get bogged down in deadly seriousness. While the movie takes itself fairly seriously throughout (despite the title, there is no camp to be found here), it eventually reaches a point where the movie just stops being fun, and kind of turns into an overly serious slog. The plot becomes sloppy and loose, we lose interest in the characters, and eventually the visual beauty of the movie is pretty much the only thing holding our attention.

Before I praise the visuals too much, I feel the need to point out that I did see the movie in 2D. I have no idea how good the 3D version is, but based on what I saw up on the screen, I saw very little that would wow with an added dimension. I have a sinking feeling that this is a case of a studio acting out of greed, and adding an extra charge. Seek out the 2D if you can. That said, this movie looks great for the most part. I say "for the most part", because while the settings, set design, and CG used to create 18th Century cityscapes are well done, the CG during the fight sequences sometimes looks a little too much like a cartoon or a video game. Don't get me wrong, they're impressively staged and mounted, especially a battle concerning the vampires attacking a train. But the inconsistent CG would briefly take me out of the experience.

For the most part, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at least stays afloat, but it still seems like a lot of wasted potential. The movie starts out being kind of thrilling, then just sort of loses its own inspiration, and then deflates. At the very least, the movie is well made, and the performances don't disappoint. I'm not sorry I saw this. I just know it could have been so much more with another rewrite or two.

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