Move over, Twilight! Abraham Lincoln is making vampires look cool again

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2013)

Who knew that our 16th President of the United States had a secret life that nobody (including your friendly humble reviewer here) knows about? And who knew that a movie called "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" would actually be a wickedly cool action/horror movie that has a surprisingly quirky sense of humor as well as a warm heart? Whether if you knew so much about Honest Abe or if you've been dozing off during History Class, this movie might put you in your place if you're looking for something special to watch whether it's on Halloween or the night before your history exam. Directed with visual gusto by Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian genius that brought us 2008's "Wanted" and produced by one of my favorite filmmakers, Tim Burton, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" follows our title character, played marvelously with star appeal and charm by Benjamin Walker, before he became the president that created the Emancipation Proclamation. He's a young lad seeking revenge on the vampire that killed his mother when he was a kid. Only then, he will need some guidance from a stranger named Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper) who teaches Abe how to destroy vampires. (Don't forget, Henry is one, too.) His mission is to destroy every vampire he sees including his mother's killer, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), its leader, Adam (Rufus Sewell) and his sexy enforcer of a sister named Vadoma (Erin Wasson). They have a part to play by creating a nation full of vampires. Whenever he's not around slaying vampires with his silver ax, Abe develops a sweet relationship with Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who will become his future First Lady, but even if he has to keep his profession secret from her, especially becoming the president we already know the history of, it's only a matter of time for him to save our nation before it would be at its end. As one of two movies of 2012 that tells the history of Honest Abe, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is one of those vampire movies that, unlike "The Twilight Saga", makes vampires cool again. It's not meant to be taken seriously, even though it's half a true story, it keeps a straight face by not trying to make it go over-the-top. The action sequences are spectacular and wildly original (two of my favorite ones are the chase with stampeding CGI horses and the climatic one with the train on the burning train tracks), the look of the film is fantastic, bringing a lot of grit and beauty to a action movie that has bite and the cast is just perfect, which also includes Anthony Mackie as Abe's childhood friend, Will, Jimmi Simpson as shopkeeper-turned-friend Joshua Speed and even an unbilled Alan Tudyk stops by for a few scenes as Stephen A. Douglas. Even the villains doesn't get to sneer or go over-the-top, except for one. Not to mention, the screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, who adapted the movie based on his fantastic best-selling novel, has a lot of wit and some funny one-liners. For example, when Henry asks what kind of weapons Abe like to use for killing vampires, he says that he's not very good with shooting irons, but he adds this: "But I was a rail splitter." It's a thrilling, funny, sometimes gory, and intense bloody adventure that's well worth looking at more than once. Plus, does this movie that has a vampire throwing a horse at our hero say "no" to you?