Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | Review
‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’, as silly as it sounds, is tackled seriously, which is possibly for the best. The film, based on the mashup novel of the same name, never feels campy. It’s the kind of film where the audience’s enjoyment will depend on whether or not they give into the suspension of disbelief. The ones who do will probably be entertained and surprised at how not terrible the film actually is.
This warped tale of the 16th President of the United States starts with the murder of his mother – by a vampire, no less. His mother’s death sparks Lincoln’s lifelong hatred of vampires. With the help of an expert vampire hunter, Henry (Dominic Cooper), Lincoln becomes a skilled killer with a silver axe as his weapon of choice.
The film depicts both Lincoln’s political and vampire hunting life. It’s fun to see the film’s twists on historical events and individuals, such as Jefferson Davis’ alliance with the vampires, the Union’s loss at the First Battle of Bull Run due to vampire soldiers, and the vampires’ love of slavery and why they’re fighting for it. Despite Henry’s rule about not having relationships and friends, Lincoln allies himself with his real-life aid and friend, William Johnson (Anthony Mackie), a free African-American, Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), his ex-employer and political advisor, and Mary Ann Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Lincoln’s strong and faithful wife.
Timur Bekmambetov (‘Wanted’) is the director and Tim Burton the producer, which explains the stylish action sequences and dark color palette. The fight scenes take note from Zack Snyder and his infamous slow-mo sequences, though they’re fun to watch nonetheless. The silliest and best ones include the fight with a herd of stampeding horses and the climactic battle on a train. The action sequences are well-edited and thrilling, even if they are absurd.
All of the actors are convincing and do their best with what they’re given. Benjamin Walker is great as the lead, especially when he has to portray the older, more well-known Lincoln; he looks so much like Lincoln it’s a little shocking. Winstead shines as Mary Todd Lincoln, especially with the death of their son, Willie Lincoln, which history forgot to mention was caused by vampires. There, she’s great as loyal wife who must deal with her husband’s gruesome vampire hunting ways and the tragic death of her child. Rufus Sewell and Erin Wasson are totally convincing and serious as the lead vampires Adam and Vadoma. Their appearance is extremely similar to ‘Twilight’s Volturi clan, though they’re more menacing and less silly-looking than Michael Sheen as a vampire.
As entertaining and visually appealing as ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ is, it does fail on some levels, namely in its story and lack of character development. About halfway through the film, when its starts delving more into the political Lincoln, it appears to skip through various points of time quickly. We never really know how much time has passed since the last scene. Important debates in Lincoln’s history are shown, but their importance is never felt. Some major facts about vampires are spilled halfway, such as their ability to be invisible, move at incredible speed, that they’ve adapted to sunlight, and their weakness to silver. With these first few bits of information, one has to wonder why the vampires haven’t just taken over the country on their own, instead of allying themselves with the Confederacy and waging war to protect slavery. None of the characters really have more than one dimension because they spend most of the time fighting vampires or thinly debating politics. There’s even a small scene where Speed makes a suspicious expression when he first meets William Johnson, but it’s never explained after that. Some major twists and surprises appear throughout the film, but there’s no real weight to them because the film only spends a few seconds leading up to, or reacting to, the twist before it simply moves forward with the plot or to the next fight scene.
For all it’s worth, ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ is a surprisingly entertaining film and probably the best it can be with a title like that. Like last year’s ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, the film knows its premise is preposterous, but you have to give yourself completely into the story to truly enjoy it. I respect the filmmakers’ ambition in making such a serious film out of such a silly idea. I’m a little excited to see the film adaptation of author Seth Grahame-Smith’s other mashup novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’, which is currently in production. Oh, and I really like the film’s mention and use of the famous Underground Railroad at the end.
Three out of four Kents.
Extra Notes:
Unfortunately, the more historical and political aspects of Lincoln’s life are more interesting in the film than the vampire one. This is probably because those parts actually happened in history, and it’s really interesting to see the famous President engaging in such important roles.
Because Hollywood loves releasing two similar movies in the same year (the last was this year’s ‘Mirror Mirror’ and ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’), there’s another film about Abraham Lincoln coming out later this year, directed by Steven Spielberg. I’m willing to bet Spielberg’s version will lack vampires.
