The film starts off with young Abe (Lux Haney-Jardine) witnessing the murder of his mother (Robin McLeavy) by a vampire (Marton Csokas). He promises to avenge her, and some years later is lucky to be getting inebriated at a bar standing next to Henry Sturgess, played by Dominic Cooper, who teaches him on vampire-killing and explains that it is a high calling, requiring great enthusiasm and avoiding distractions, i.e. marriage.
There’s a part early in the film where Lincoln tries to shoot a vampire, but that won’t work since they are already dead. What can he do? He tells Henry, “Well, I used to be pretty good at rail-spitting…” This may only make a few people laugh because the movie purposely avoids any way to be funny.
Lincoln’s weapon of choice turns out to be an ax with a silver blade, which he learns to spin like a drum’s baton. Since he carries the ax around most of the time, it may appear to be unusual. Ebert mentioned in his review, “I was reminded uncannily of Buford Pusser, walking tall and carrying a big stick.”
Much like how Anakin did in “Attack of the Clones,” Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) marries Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and the story moves quickly to when he is President, where he finds out that the vampires are on the South’s side. This looks strange, since they’ve got to be equal opportunity bloodsuckers, but there you go. Fighting with Lincoln is his childhood friend Will Johnson, played by Anthony Mackie, a free black man whose abuse led to Lincoln’s rancor of slavery. Also with Lincoln is Joshua Speed, played by Jimmi Simpson, who hired him in his Springfield general store. Johnson and Speed join Lincoln in Civil War strategy meetings and are his most important advisors, which are overlooked in history.
The film, directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Seth Grahame-Smith, based on his novel, looks at all of these situations with an excellent seriousness, which could be the only way it can work. The performances are serious and genuine, and even villains like Adam, played by Rufus Swell, the American leader of the Vampire Nation, doesn’t spit or snarl over much. It unfortunately introduces but does not explain Vadoma, played by Erin Wasson, a statuesque woman who is many decades ahead of her time in her taste for leather obsession wear. Ebert even asks, “Are vampires kinky? I didn't know.”
Ebert talked about in his review, “Although we do not attend "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in search of a history lesson, there's one glitch I cannot overlook. In the first day of fighting at Gettysburg, the Union sustains a defeat so crushing that Lincoln is tempted to surrender. This is because the Confederate troops, all vampires, are invulnerable to lead bullets, cannon fire and steel blades, and have an alarming way of disappearing and rematerializing. Over breakfast, Lincoln confides his despair to his wife and says conventional weapons are of no more use against them than — why — than this fork! As he stares at it, he realizes it is silver, and vampires can be killed by silver weapons, as he has proved with his axe-twirling.”
Now try not to focus too much on history. After realizing this, Lincoln uses all his resources to gather all the silver in Washington, melt it, and make silver bayonets, bullets and cannon balls. Then we see him, Johnson and Speed with weapons on a train en route to Gettysburg. It is night again, which may make you think this took less than a day.
Don’t mind that. Now comes an actually thrilling action sequence where the vampires battle Lincoln and his comrades on top of the speeding train, which dashes toward a high wooden bridge that has been set burning by the evil Vadoma. This part is ridiculous and yet exciting, using masterful editing and special effects. Somehow Benjamin Walker and his co-stars are convincing – well, as convincing as such silliness can be.
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” has nothing useful to look at about Abraham Lincoln, slavery, the Civil War or much of anything else. If you don’t pay close attention, you might miss the detail that Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railway basically won the war for the North. But the film doesn’t promise the details on these areas. What it succeeds at is a surprisingly good job of doing wrong to its title, and treating Lincoln with as much gravity as we can expect, under the conditions.
In the end, like I said before, I’m not sure how accurately this film followed the novel, but it’s a great action flick to enjoy. Definitely give this film a watch, but don’t expect it to be anywhere as good as “Lincoln,” which is far superior.
Check in tomorrow for the next entry in “Halloween Month.”
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