The movie was lifted from the novel of the same title by Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter which was written by Seth Grahame Smith (who also wrote another great movie-to-be Pride and Prejudice with Zombies).
It stars Benjamin Walker as President Abraham Lincoln who also happens to be one of the best vampire hunters during the 1800s. Walker's leading lady is Scott Pilgrim's Mary Elizabeth Winstead who plays Lincoln's wife Mary Todd. Other cast members include Dominic Cooper as Henry Sturges and Rufus Sewel as Adam. The film is directed by Wanted's Timur Bekmambetov with Tim Burton as executive producer.
While its billed as a direct adaptation of the novel (which in turn was an adaptation of the actual life of Honest Abe) it could easily be inferred from one sit down that this is a different beast altogether.
Walker's take on the 16th president of the United States of America is a good take. He's actually only an inch short of the real president which makes him physically intimidating against other co-stars. The two men share some uncanny resemblance and if you see the film (which opens like now) plus if you think about, Walker's got the acting chops thanks to his theater background.
Here are the things that really made this popcorn movie an enjoyable visual treat.
History Lesson:
We get to see some nice touches of reality and history in a fictional book. We meet Abraham in different stages of his life from when he was a kid when his mom gets murdered by a vampire to the time that he was assassinated inside the Ford Theater (which was not shown by the way, to pave a "good ending"). Teenagers and young adults who pay for good money will definitely get their money's worth thanks to the sheer number of references that's been intricately placed in the film. If you're a history nut/ geek such as myself, you'd even be giggling in sheer delight with terms like "The Emancipation Act" or even "Gettysburg".
3D
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter also provided some great 3D visuals throughout its 2 hour long action and historical romp. I guess the best moments however were the two set piece scenes in the film. One involves a fight amidst galloping vampire horses and the other one was the final action scene on the train featuring the main characters on their way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. For the horse gallop scene the dust was the prime element that made it very awesome while in the train scene towards the end, its got to be the wood splinters flying around together with some smoke. But the most important element that made the 3D even better was the flying embers. Trust me, its like you're really part of the action when you see that action sequence.
Fight Choreo
Timur Bekmambetov might have been tagged as a clone of Zack Snyder but you have to agree that he does use the slow-motion fight trick quite well. We've him do justice for Wanted so its fair to think that he'll be using the same approach in one or two scenes from the movie. And he obviously does so with a flair. Check out the scene where Erin Wasson beats the crap out of Abe.
Soundtrack and Musical Scoring
Gotta hand it to the production team behind Abe because they managed to provide a nice and simple musical score for the film. I also wanted to call out Linkin Park for their contribution to the film's soundtrack in the form of the song POWERLESS.
Overall, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is an enjoyable movie. Just don't expect too much stuff coming from the book that gets translated into the film.
Verdict: 4/5
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