Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Review

Once again like last week despite being exhausted from my Current Events class, Justin and I went to the movies and saw Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on June 23, 2012. It is based off a book by Seth Graehme-Smith. There are differences between the movie and the book, and I must say that I actually enjoyed the changes. It is probably not for everybody, but I was immediately gravitated towards the project. It's an action/fantasy/horror movie that I thought blended everything nicely in it's own unique story. I was very into the whole movie. I liked how Benjamin Walker approached the role, and felt he did a good job with what he had to do. When he doesn't have the beard, he reminds me of a younger Liam Neeson. I was worried how Henry Sturgess would be portrayed on the screen, but Dominic Cooper did an excellent job. I was very impressed with him, as he takes on the role of training Abe to be a successful killing machine, and telling him how there are vampires on both the side of good and evil. Abe is very handy with an ax, but the ax is also a shotgun at the handle. It's a pretty intricate weapon. Sturgess keeps his dark secret from Lincoln, until Lincoln himself finds out that Sturgess himself is of the undead. They hit on several of the key quotes from the book and adapted the book pretty well. Smith worked on the script, so he dictated alot of the changes that happened on the screen. Lincoln is pegged as a man to enter into politics by Senator Nelson (who is himself a vampire-take note of the sunglasses as well as different philosophical viewpoints from sects of the vampires) so he can battle the politics of the South and slavery. In the movie and the book, slaves are harvested for blood. It's a really interesting twist that worked well. I thought the storyline worked well with Adam played very well by Rufus Sewell, and his sister Vadoma, who was a good villainous female character wanting a pure nation of vampires vs. Abraham Lincoln, who was seeking revenge for the death of his mother at the hands of Jack Barts-which is the key reason he begins to undertake this interesting addition to the historical figure we all know. Adam and Vadoma were added for the movie, however, they fit right into the whole philosophy of what Abe and Henry are battling. Adam is important because he is the reason for Henry Sturges's hatred towards his own race as he forced Sturges to watch his wife be killed and was turned himself to live with the guilt. All the training Lincoln undertakes from Henry sends him to Springfield where he works at the general store with Joshua Speedman, who he has a close friendship with in both the book and movie. It's elaborated more in the movie, which is nice to see. He, along with his childhood friend, William Jackson, now a freed man helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad meets up with him as he is working on his law degree. Anthony Mackie portrayed Jackson, who some may remember from The Adjustment Bureau. He did a pretty good job as I think he is an actor with great potential and hope to see more from him. On the subject of politics, I was glad they kept the plotline from the book intact with how Abe and Mary Todd begin their relationship. In both instances, she is engaged to Stephen Douglas originally. I just love how there's a love triangle between them. Also, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, one of my personal favorite actresses was Mary Todd. It's the only time you'll probably see Mary Todd look attractive. However, Mary Elizabeth Winstead did an excellent job of portraying depression, schizophrenia, and rage fits that many have commented on in several historical articles. Great stuff from her!! I always look forward to seeing her in things. Adam wants Abe to kill Henry, but Abe refuses leading to an all out fight in Adam and Vadoma's plantation. The action scenes were absolutley fantastic-beautifully shot and giving enough to please me. It was directed by the man who directed Wanted so you'll notice a similar style. Now, we all know about Willie Lincoln and how he died at a young age. Well, what they kept intact between the book and the movie is that Willie meets his demise at the hands of the bloodsuckers, except in the movie Vadoma is responsible, which should be how it is here. In the book, it's just a random vampire assassin who follows the same philosophies as Adam and Vadoma here. Willie has a little cavalry sword necklace that Mary Todd gave him which is really cool. That comes back later on in the movie. Abe is in the White House and battling Jefferson Davis who has become one of the undead and makes a pact with Adam to win this war for the Confederacy and to harvest the slaves and most importantly kill the Union. Lincoln, Speedman, and Jackson devise a plan to get silver to the Union as it is a powerful weapon in impeding a vampire's ability as Lincoln himself recognized in his first encounter with Jack Barts. Henry always is telling Lincoln to have a contingency plan and they did an excellent job of making it look like there was dissension between Lincoln's party while Adam thought he was going to kill off the silver supply and allow for the Confederacy/vampires to win the nation. The train scene and the Gettysburg battle scenes are some of the most incredible action sequences I've seen. I love how they used the Underground Railroad to get the silver to the Union with Mary Todd making the commands on the field-very awesome. Basically, the way I look at it Mary Elizabeth Winstead was the general. I was eagerly anticpating a showdown with her and Vadoma over what happened to Willie. It wasn't an all out drag down fight, but it was very well done and I thought that was how it should have been done. In the book, Mary Todd's role is not as big, and I was glad they added a little more to it here. They left out the Ford's Theatre stuff but they imply that Lincoln will live forever even if he isn't immortal. I liked the ending in both versions. Both versions end up in modern times, but are shown in different ways. It's to display the immortality of Henry in both instances. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I thought the action sequences, especially the ones I pointed out on the train and the Gettysburg battle sequences were very well done. I enjoyed the performances-Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Benjamin Walker, and Dominic Cooper were excellent. Rufus Sewell was a great villain. He had an evil vibe to him and that's what he should give off. There were several instances of verbatim quotes from the book which is great to see. There were also some genuine comedic parts which is necessary after certain scenes. It's one hell of a thrill ride, and a fun cinematic adventure. It's not going to be considered a masterpiece and you shouldn't take it too seriously. I think it's really creative and love the blend of reality with fantasy like this. I will give this a 4/5 as it just kept me into the movie from start to finish and I enjoyed the differences made in the stories. I liked it because I didn't know exactly what direction they'd take it and that can be a good thing. I thought it worked well here. You won't get me to say a negative thing about this. I realize it won't appeal to everyone, but I definitely will be getting this on DVD when it comes out just because it certainly appealed to me. Smith's addition of characters and scenes to the movie felt natural for this genre. Everything was connected well and led to a good finale.