Blade, Vampire D, Let the Right One...

Rating: 5/10 (9 July 2012)

I have to say this movie is one of the strangest vampire films I have ever seen. Now in a way I can understand how some might see that as complimenting. But I don't think this vampire film is of note. It's not the best vampire film or the worst. What's so strange is obviously the Abraham Lincoln aspect.
When I say aspect, I mean aspect. The title being split Abraham Lincoln:Vampire hunter is not surprisingly fitting. On one hand this movie is about a vampire hunter. And on the other it's about Abraham Lincoln. In truth this is a movie about a vampire hunter. The writer of both the book and screenplay Seth Grahame-Smith seemingly thought making the hunter Lincoln, made things more interesting but had little interest in actually making it even a little bit convincing as a fantasy. That is to say the Lincoln aspect is completely a gimmick.
The fact this film has little to do with what we know of Lincoln is probably not surprising to anyone. But like I mentioned before simply as a vampire hunter film, this one isn't very good. The introduction to the film and Lincoln as a vampire hunter felt like a run through. It seems the writer and director knew they we covering over-used ground and instead of doing something different, they just speed things up.
Despite the pacing causing me to be withdrawn, I did find the director Timur Bekmambetov and the editor William Hoy created interesting transition techniques from shot to shot and scene to scene. The transitioning certainly made the overall film more effective, but it did not save the film. Another strength in the film was the cinematography. It had the expected nights basked moonlight, sunrises and sunsets that are essential in vampire films. But overall the look of the film was engaging and artful. I thought the overall custom design was pretty good as well.
The acting wasn't bad for the most part, Grahame-Smith didn't give them much of a chance to give a performances of note. I will say that visually Benjamin Walker pulled off being Abraham Lincoln. But does he pull of being Lincoln? I think he does as well as one can be expected to,considering.
This movie is of some worth. This is due in no small part to the production designer, art director, set decorator, custom designer, and cinematographer. I think Timur Bekmambetov, probably most known for directing Wanted, shouldn't be written off either. Bekmambetov's two vampire movies Day Watch and Night Watch has gotten him a lot of attention as well(I haven't seen them but they are well regarded by many creditable vampire film aficionados). To be honest I think the one who should be spotlighted for this movie being an ineffective vampire film is the writer Seth. He is new to the screenplay writing game and it shows. Not to say he is talentless. I think this project was a bit to ambitious and it was too easy to go wrong. I won't go into the narrative faults but there are plenty of holes and one key thing we learn about the vampires is thrown out the door in the climax. Maybe if this film had dropped the gimmick, which is what the Abraham Lincoln aspect is, and made a movie about a vampire hunter during the same time, we could of had a far more interesting film on our hands.
Oh yes, in the summary/header I put three alternatives for those looking for good vampire films. I listed Blade and Vampire D because those are good vampire hunter films as is John Carpenter's Vampires and their are others. I put Let the Right One In because that is a newer Swedish vampire film that is truly worth watching. The American version Let Me In isn't bad either. But if you have been searching for good vampire films you probably have already seen the ones I listed. But not to worry Let the Right One In proved the foundation made by the original film Nosferatu is to strong to be destroyed by this vampire fad lead by the Twilight Saga.