Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

There's an understanding you need to have with yourself before you sit down and watch a movie called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. You've got to understand that you're about to sit down and watch a movie called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. You've got to know that what you're about to see isn't going to be on the list of films in a discussion that comprise some of the greatest films of all time. This new high-concept film from Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) brings an aura of ridiculousness to the legacy of our 16th U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln. But it's fun. It's a lot of fun.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter begins as an older President Lincoln (Benjamin Walker, who does an amazing job channeling a young Liam Neeson) is writing in a journal. As he begins telling the story of his life, at one point he tells the story of the death of his mother. He witnessed a man break into his home and infect his mother with some disease that slowly killed her. Filled with rage, he lived his life waiting for the moment to exact his revenge only to discover that the target of his rage could not be killed, because he is a vampire. Henry (Dominic Cooper) turns out to be an expert on vampires and trains young Lincoln in the ways of vampire hunting.

Walker and Cooper prove to be a very good pair on screen, but where the film really excels is in the action scenes. There's only one action sequence that is riddled with bad CGI but every other sequence is great. The slo-mo seems a little overdone at times, but when Walker is spinning that axe around, it will seem like there haven't been very many things in horror movies quite as cool as those scenes.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a unique film. Every flaw in this film, of which there are many, can be easily pointed out. It fast forwards through too much of Lincoln's life, specifically his courtship with Mary Todd. It's written lazily. At one point Henry says there's a reason that vampires can walk around in sunlight, but then never explains it. The CGI is really bad a lot of the times. There's an incredibly silly and almost cringe-inducing chase during a horse stampede that will reinforce this point. There are many other flaws, but those are the most glaring.

Remember that understanding you need to have with yourself that we talked about? If you're sold on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter based on what you've seen in trailers, then you won't be disappointed in what you see. If you've seen the trailers and are still expecting the film to have something intelligent to say, sadly you're mistaken. If you want to have fun with this you will, and sometimes it's easy to have fun with something so damned cool as Abraham Lincoln chopping up vampires.