Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

[Impact]

Review, Discuss and Have Fun!

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Nobody saw this?

[75Live]

Nobody saw this?

Or they are afraid to admit it.

But I just saw this last night. I am not going to say it was a great film, but surprisingly I had fun watching it. The use of the vampires to help show how US history at that time occurred was interesting enough. Again, not the best story or acting, but overall, it was a decent watch and I wasn't upset about seeing it.

Besides how can someone not enjoy Honest Abe chopping vampire's heads off and having a combo ax/gun

C+

[Michael Gary Scott]

I saw it. It wasnt bad i had fun it was entertaining. 3.5/5

[ddddeeee]

I thought it was a lot of fun.

[narniadis]

its a fun but also terrible flickC

[Captain Craig]

Grade: B-/C+

I'm going to talk in full on SPOILERS so back out now or skip to next post.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Still here then....

When you go in knowing this is an OTT historical genre bender it allows certain liberties. Still, I expect certain things to remain true within the confines of the universe itself.

I was a bit surprised on how much of an origin was told for this but it worked out well I suppose. Set up his sidekick Will pretty well at any rate.

Our lead vampire Adam having essentially been around when the Hebrews were slaves and built the monuments to Romans using Christians as slaves and entertainment etc, etc was a nice nod to tying the slavery theme into the context of the film.

This is the first place I can recall that the idea of a Vampire being unable to kill another is used. Maybe in some book out there it's used but this is my first exposure to that idea.

I was glad to again see the explanation for Silver as being tied to Judas again. Haven't seen that in awhile.

I liked Dominic Cooper's Henry, the vampire out for blood against Adam. I liked Mary Elizabeth Winstead and especially Alan Tudyk as Stephen Douglas.

I liked the cinematography and period piece attire. For the most part the F/X gets a 90% grade from me.

So what are my questions with the film?

At one point Mary Todd is the fiancee of Stephen Douglas, it's mentioned. At what point does that end cause suddenly Abe is courting her then 15min later or so they are married. Something on the cutting room floor? Despite I know Abe has to end up with her I need context within this story to get there. I actually felt Stephen Douglas might be revealed as a vampire.

I'm so very over the idea of vampires being daywalkers. Yes the film alludes to a type of early 19th century sunscreen but only Henry is seen even using any and then only once.

Staying as true to the idea of Abe being a normal human, even one trained by a vampire, he's not gifted with super human abilities. My biggest gripe is the stampeding bronco scene where Abe jumps from horseback to horseback. He's still just human. At least when Henry is training him we know he whacks at that tree a dozen times before "one" big blow fells it.

The editing at time felt a bit uneven for me. Making it seemed rushing to get the film to the next "moment". Again, material on the cutting room floor perhaps?

Overall theme for Vampire Nation: So was Adam using the South as his foothold to take over the young nation thus humoring the idea of slavery as a dividing point to take over the North, thus the country. Also, were the humans in the South (at least in leadership posts) aware of this. We get that brief scene with Jefferson Davis (President of Confederacy) talking to Adam in which he tells Jefferson "you'll get as many of my people as you need". So a conspiracy between some Southern leaders and Adam? Adam using them as an ends to a means.

[ladyevenstar22]

ok just watched it, and it was mildly ok?...if i start thinking too much i'll see glaring flaws all over it, so lincoln hunts vampire okfor the most part i was so troubled by the actor's ressemblance to liam neeson that the put together plot didnt bother me as much as it should, i mean the ressemblance is uncanny , he looks like his son so to find out they're not related is weirdthere's ressemblance like javier bardem and jefffrey dean morgan, but this is on same level or more as brad pitt and robert redford, it really makes me wonder about DNA , reincarnation and stuff, there's gotta be a family connection however tenuous anywayy as you can tell it sidetracked me a lotone thing that was awful was the CGI the horse scene, the bridge scene, the war field scenes pfff , i dare say history channel docs were better re-enacted and caused less eye -rollingthe actress playing his wife was ok , don't know where i've previously seen heri feel there was a side effect to mixing lincoln and vampire,which made it hard to reconcile those two world and believe it, esp when he's suddenly 50 and still kicking ass and his black friend looks like a young man with a slight shade of grey side burnsthe one redeeming quality of this film is it has made me genuinely interested in seeing spielberg's "lincoln" as a history addict of sort, i never say no to seeing a history based movie theatre or dvd, as an oscar potential i would have seen it anyway but at least now my interest is peeked, and wonder if its anything as good as HBO's "john adams" after all he's linked to a very important time in american young history...

Edited November 23, 2012 by ladyevenstar22

[Webslinger]

After reading the book, I was curious as to how filmmakers would turn Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter into a movie; after seeing the movie, however, I regret that curiosity. This is an awful adaptation that goes awry mostly because of its refusal to embrace the tongue-in-cheek nature of its source material - which is very ironic considering that the book's author Seth Grahame-Smith is also the screenwriter here. Rather, it takes itself completely seriously and plays everything straight, which might not be such a big problem if the film had a halfway-decent story to tell. But despite establishing dramatic stakes (I would say no pun intended, but I don't remember there being any wooden stakes in the movie), it moves through most of its story without giving more than minimal context for anything that happens. It's also not anywhere near as skillful as the book at weaving all the vampire hunting business in with real biographical details; Lincoln feels more like a generic action hero than a man of conviction on a mission, and the connection between vampires and slavery - the sticking point of the second half of the film - is developed in only a very sketchy manner. The performances are also wooden across the board, which helps to further limit any dramatic urgency that might be developed. The action scenes, while somewhat stylishly presented, also don't pack much of a punch. Director Timur Bekmambetov's previous film, Wanted, did a great job mixing high-energy action with doses of humor, and it often feels like some levity and self-awareness would greatly enliven the proceedings here. Given the concept and the source material, this movie had the potential to be stupid, campy, self-aware fun; but as is, it's a remarkably dull film whose serious tone works against it at just about every turn.

D+

[Goffe]

It was too conventional and cliche for my taste. It's a well made movie but boring. C- (37)

[baumer]

WTF did I just watch lol?  

 

First Mary Elizabeth Winstead is beautiful.  That's all.  Well, one more.  Loved her look in The Thing, wanted to marry her in Vampire Hunter.  

 

As for the movie, decent but too strange for my taste.  I think I'll write more when I'm sober.

 

6/10