Saturday 19 January 2013

[[REVIEW]] - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter





Directed By : Timur Bekmambetov
Starring : Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper


The title says it all really! An alternative "biopic" about President Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) and his side job as a vampire hunter! 






I was never totally sold on the idea of taking an american president and turning him into a Helsing like character. At first I thought it was an April fools joke! I should start from the beginning. Abraham at the age of 9 witnessed his mother get bitten by a vampire and from then on swore he would take his revenge. Later in life he meets Henry (Dominic Cooper) in a bar. Henry saves his life when he faces the vampire that killed his mother and teaches Lincoln to become a vampire hunter, giving him names and locations until he is ready to face his nemesis who he kills but later finds out that Henry is a vampire and turns his back on the hunting to follow his politics career and start a family with his wife Mary (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). It's only when more of his family is taken by a vengeful vampire that he goes back to his old job to save his country. The biggest flaw in this movie is it's CGI. There is a scene where Lincoln and Adam (Rufus Sewell) a bloodthirsty and cruel vampire are fighting among hundreds of wild horses. The horses are so obviously fake it's almost embarrassing to watch. The slow motion is cringe worthy and quite annoying because of how frequent it is used. There is plenty of blood splatter and gore but I feel like it hid too much and the blood was very cartoon like. A lot of what was done in CGI could have been done practically with make-up and prosthetic.

It's not all complaints however. I liked the story and it provided great entertainment. I loved how it tied in historically with facts from the real Lincolns life and career. The acting was pretty good and the script was adequate. A few ham lines but nothing too big.

Over all it was OK  Worth watching if you have an hour and 45 minutes to spare and nothing better to do. I wouldn't say it was disappointing because I didn't expect much from it anyway but I won't be rushing out to buy it. Rent once only kinda thing.

My Rating
5/10

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