I can see why people wouldn't like this film. It does go a little CG-I crazy, and some of the action set pieces are a bit far-fetched. And Jimmi Simpson's accent is more than a little bit iffy. But the acting is very solid and it ties in a lot of the things from Lincoln's actual life very well and-... Wait, what was that? This film is too serious? Are you kidding me?! So, Abraham Lincoln destroying vampires with an axe that also transforms into a shotgun is too serious? ... You guys have an odd sense of serious.
Based on the book by Seth Grahame-Smith (who also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), this basically tells the history of Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker), but with vampires. When he's a youngster, Abe sees his mother killed by a vindictive vampire Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), and grows up harbouring a wish to avenge his mothers death. After almost being killed by Barts, he gains a mentor in Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), another vampire (but a good one, not an evil one) who trains him to be a vampire hunter. Fighting these monsters inspires Lincoln to pursue a political career. Eventually, he puts his slaying days behind him in order to protect his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but is forced back into his old ways as the civil war approaches and the southern forces use vampires to help them, lead by Adam (Rufus Sewell).
I'm sure if you know more about Lincoln's life you will get more out of the way the historical events are portrayed in the story. But even if you don't (and I certainly didn't) you still get a fairly enjoyable and easy to follow story out of this. But really, this is too serious? I think that's one of the weirdest complaints for a movie I've heard. People seemed to think that this was meant to be a tongue in cheek tribute to the man. But the premise is so tongue in cheek already that if it was any sillier then it wouldn't have worked. Instead, they took a slightly silly idea and made it epic! And when a film is filled with silly sounding scenes, like Abe's training montage (a freaking training montage!), and they give them a serious edge, it adds a little gravitas to the occasion, and makes it awesome!
The acting is superb in this, even the slightly odd choices of Jimmi Simpson as Joshua Speed and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Mary Todd Washington (mainly because I've only seen them in teen movies). Everyone is really bloody good, but of course the star is Benjamin Walker as Lincoln, who behind the serious facade you can tell is having a lot of fun. He manages to be an action star whilst looking like he belongs in a period drama, which is the perfect mix! Rufus Sewell as Adam is also good, and wonderfully hammy in some parts, but not so much that he loses his menace. Although the person who steals the film with his performance is Dominic Cooper as Henry. He gives a rather honest performance of a man who has lost everything yet continues to fight against those who must be stopped, and in the end becomes a presence surrounding Lincoln's life.
The problems I have with the film are basically the CG-I and the way the vampire lore is handled. Because of budget restraints, most of the action scenes were done with an excessive use of CG-I, and so sneaky techniques with smoke and dust are used to hide this fact. But in all honesty, the fights are choreographed so well that I can forgive the hazy, smoked filled mess it becomes, because depsite all that, we can still see what's happening instead of the usual shaky cam nonsense. The vampire lore is a little harder to forgive, but I do give them props for the changes they made. And it does do the sensible thing of showing us how the vampires are portrayed instead of outright telling.
But it doesn't explain everything. Like why vampires can walk around in the day without spontaneously combusting. I think it's hinted that sunlight is mildly inconvenient due to the fact that they wear veils and sunglasses whilst out and about, but it would've been nice to hear the actual explanation for it. So, instead of sunlight killing them, it's silver, which is used in the story very well, and becomes a really good plot point. The other thing that they changed to the normal lore is that vampires can't kill other vampires, which here is basically used as the reason Henry gets Abe to be his pupil. There isn't really an explanation given for this, the only thing that comes close is a line Henry gives where he says 'Only the living can kill the dead', but that seems a little cliche ridden to me.
Apart from those unexplained phenomenom, I'd say this is a good film. Maybe not a great film, but definitely not deserving of the crap it's been getting. I reckon if people went to see this with a different mindset and not expect a cheeky riff on history, then they may enjoy it more. Not that it's historically accurate at all (Lincoln had three children, not one!), but that has never before stood in the way of a clever story. The best way I can describe this is a historical action movie, and if you remember that all action movies aren't piles of fun then sit back and enjoy an excellent escapist movie with good acting and vampires. What more could you want! Until next time, readers, where I promise it will be zombies!
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