[Films] Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Yesterday evening I took a trip to the cinema to see one of the films on my "interested in" list from earlier in the summer: Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter. It wasn't the greatest film I've ever seen, nor was it the best film I've seen so far this summer. But it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen either.

The official cinematic release poster. (Credit: imdb.com)

Lets start with the good points. I thought that Benjamin Walker was very good as Abraham Lincoln, capturing both the youthful exuberance and naivety to begin with, then the gravitas that he acquired later in life. The supporting cast were all pretty decent as well, at least on the side of good. Dominic Cooper in particular was excellent as the mentor/teacher character. The vampires on the other hand were all rather bland and forgettable. The action sequences were spectacular, with plenty of slow-motion shots and artistic angles, as you'd expect from Timur Bekmambetov, and the choreography trod the line nicely between over the top incomprehensibility and boring but easy follow, with some impressive axe work. The final fight scene on top of a moving train was possibly my favourite, purely for the interplay between Lincoln and his best friend to take on hordes of attacking vampires (although there didn't really seem to be that many of them to be honest).

On the other hand, there was some dodgy CGI at times. One particular sequence, involving a fight in the middle, and on top, of a stampeding herd of horses looked particularly odd, with rather rubbery character models that ruined the effect a little bit. But the entire scene was so preposterous that it didn't really seem to matter too much. 

Benjamin Walker as a young Abraham Lincoln, with his weapon of choice. (Credit: altfg.com)

There are other flaws in the film as well. The 'twist' to the back-story of Cooper's character was so obviously telegraphed from his introduction that it came as absolutely no surprise, and the tone of the film lurched wildly between fun and entirely too serious, sometimes within the same scene. I was left wondering how Abraham Lincoln made it to become president with so much ease if the vampires knew who he was. It was almost as if they forgot about him for 30 years, then decided to take revenge all of a sudden. It was obviously to get the plot, such as it was, to fit into the historical events, but it was a bit of a stretch. The converse is also true. Did Lincoln suddenly forget about the bloodsucking monsters, or decide that they'd leave him alone? Who knows. The shoehorning of the story into the civil war was also a little tedious, and the link between the fight against the supernatural and the war on slavery wasn't really adequately explained or justified.

On the whole though it was a fun film to pass an evening with, and the 105minute running time flew past. Worth a look, but don't expect too much and leave your brain at home.