Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter takes a bite out of history

I’m not a big American history buff, but I know enough about it to know that the makers of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter have done a pretty good job of mixing historical fact with pure fantastical horror. The movie starts out with young Abe protecting his best friend Will Johnson (a real person from Lincoln’s life) from the painful end of a whip, despite his father’s instruction to look away (yes, this is meant to inform Lincoln’s later decision to free the slaves — a little heavy-handed but it works). Abe’s father is beholden to the man with the whip, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), and thanks to Abe’s insubordination, his father loses his employment and is told he must pay back his debt in full immediately. Of course, he has no money so Barts sneaks in to the Lincoln home one night and takes his payment in the form of Abe’s mother’s blood. You see, Barts is a vampire.

Abraham’s mother dies, and he makes it his mission in life to exact his revenge on Barts. The grown Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) is prepared to do just that when he meets Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), who takes Lincoln under his wing and reveals that vampires are more prevalent in society than he believed. Throughout the course of the story, we run across historical characters Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Joshua Speed, Jefferson Davis, Harriet Tubman, and Stephen Douglas (an uncredited Alan Tudyk). The Civil War and the issue of slavery is also a major focus of the second half of the film when it’s revealed that the South is crawling with vampires who use their slaves for more than just work around the plantation and want to stop Lincoln’s efforts to set them free.

I really enjoyed Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter from both a historical and entertainment aspect. I believe they got enough of the facts correct (although some history buffs may wince) while making it all immensely entertaining and scary at the same time. The only real glaringly wrong historical fact was the depiction of Mary Todd, especially after she became Mrs. Lincoln. The movie portrays her as a very strong-willed woman with a good head on her shoulders, but the real Mary was quite a bit more unbalanced and a social outcast among the Washington D.C. elite. Lincoln’s third child, Willie, figures into the story as well, but we don’t see the two older and one younger brothers (and, in fact, I had no idea the Lincolns even had children until now). The battle at Gettysburg and its place in American history, and the great loss of soldiers are also driving forces that move the story along.

Director Timur Bekmambetov, known for such flashy action films as Wanted and Night Watch, manages to rein in his usual stylistic choices during the quieter parts of the film, giving a nice eye to the detail in the scene from sets and costumes to language and mannerisms, but he also cuts loose in a couple of major effects set-pieces that include a stampede of hundreds of horses, and a runaway train with Lincoln and company, an army of vampires and some special cargo on board (and if you remember Bekmambetov’s awesome train scene in Wanted, you won’t be disappointed by this one). The film also looks gorgeous with different variations in color and saturation used throughout the film to set off the various locations and moods in each scene, going from sepia to cold blue to vibrant color, and the score mixes period-appropriate music with some harder rock-influenced sounds for the action scenes. And I applaud writer Seth Grahame-Smith and producer Tim Burton for keeping the film firmly in the dramatic and horrific … something I wish they would have done with Dark Shadows.

The cast is uniformly terrific with the standouts being Rufus Sewell as the leader of the vampires, Adam, who doesn’t take kindly to Lincoln’s efforts and will stop at nothing (and will sacrifice anyone) to make sure Lincoln complies with his wishes. And a big round of applause goes to Benjamin Walker for his first leading screen role (Walker is best known for his Broadway turn as Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson). Walker invests his portrayal of Lincoln with the proper amount of gravitas and even in the most outlandish of situations, is still reverent to the man while keeping him human as well. (And in doing some research on Lincoln’s sons, I found that he bears a striking resemblance to the oldest son, Robert.) Overall, it was a terrific performance in a film that is entertaining, and even when mashing together history and fancy, it never goes too far over the top. The film is also being shown in 3D, and I found some of the effects — particularly those that feature angry vampires dashing towards the camera and out of the screen — pretty effective. The process isn’t necessary for the story, but it does add a bit to the more frightening aspects of the film. Your enjoyment will depend on your tolerance for 3D (but don’t let that keep you away if it’s the only choice available).

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Jun 22, 2012 @ 03:00 EST5EDT