A great book to read. A great movie to watch!

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2012)

Ten years ago, an author name Joe R. Lansdale, wrote a short story that made the majority of readers appalled and scratched their heads about it's rubbish. The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, fighting an ancient, demonic mummy in a nursing home. Later on, director of the Phantasm series, Don Coscarelli, made this bizarre story come to life and the movie made a cult following afterwards. The name of that movie was Bubba Ho-Tep. Think about it. If someone can make a story about an actual historic icon that we all know of, secretly facing off an evil fictional force, the sky's the limit.
This is when Seth Grahame-Smith comes in. Instead of a icon like Elvis, he uses the most American historic figure that changed and made our country's history. The sixteenth President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Smith made a risky step to use Mr. Lincoln as a axe-wielding warrior slaying vampires! Vampires? YES! VAMPIRES! How crazy does that sound?
At first, I had my doubts by looking at the cover of Mr. Lincoln smirking at me with both hands behind his back, holding a blood-splattered axe in one hand and a severed vampire head in the other. Over the months, I've decided to give the book at chance because you know what they say, "Never judge a book by it's cover." What a marvelous read it was, from beginning to end! How Abe discovered vampires are real when he was young, how he befriends the mysterious Henry, and his primary mission to kill many vampires as he can, intertwining with actual historic events with Smith's never-ending imagination of Mr. Lincoln's feud with the undead beasts! Very exciting read and highly recommend it!
I bet you are saying at this point, "Hey! Wait asecond! You're supposed to be reviewing the movie, not the book. If you want to review the movie, go type away at barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com, buddy!" In fact, you are right. I had been carried away blabbering about the book. As for the movie, It was equally exciting as the novel!
There were a lot of doubts about the cast selection for the film before it's release. But in my opinion, Benjamin Walker portrayed Mr. Lincoln pretty darn well. Even the late scenes when Lincoln aged into his 50's, Walker was still in solid form. As for the rest of the cast members, very great performances all-around!
The story plot is almost the same as a book, but a lot of the story itself has changed drastically, just to make it an action-horror film rather than a movie with a lot of dialog. However, Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay for the film, making it feel that you're still in a safe zone if you've read the book before first. Sure, the story went off a slight different direction, but still keeping it's original touch of the core, thanks to Mr. Smith's clever writing.
The fight scenes were very epic and fascinating to watch! Yes, I disagree about things getting CGI'ed beyond it's limit, but how else can two actors fight during a stampede of horses or a handful of actors on a runaway train on a burning bridge? I do have to admit that I felt quite cheated on the scenes when vampires show their true form by CGI'ing up the whole face rather than protruding their fangs like True Blood. But overall, do I really care about it? Not really. I was getting too interested by the combat and the choreography of each intense scene.
In conclusion, If you are a fan of the book, like I am, you will enjoy the film, like I did. Be prepared for big changes of the story, but other than that, you won't be disappointed. If you never read the book but curious about the movie, give it a shot. It's full of frights, action, blood and gore, wound up in an interesting, yet amazing, storyline. I suggest reading the book first, but you can read it after watching the movie if you're craving for more adventure out of it's plot. 9/10