A worthy effort wasted on an unworthy cause..

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2012)

"Abraham Lincoln: VampireHunter" was strangely able to awake a peculiar mix of very different, conflicting emotions in me. Excitement and satisfaction on one side and sadness and discontent on the other kept me overwhelmed for a while. Eventually, the latter won and I had to face the hard truth that almost drove me into a rather painful melancholy.
There was no way around that. I had to admit to myself that "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is an elegant nonsense, a professionally made nullity, an exciting shallowness, a worthy effort for an unworthy cause.
Irrespective to its ultimate worth, the movie turned out to be well done professionally.
The script was adequate to the task. The story had a solid literary source in its foundation – the SethGrahame-Smith's mash-up novel with the same name. It even featured some character development - a rarity for a mainstream Hollywood movie nowadays.
The only truly silly and incredibly cheesy scene in the "Abraham Lincoln: VampireHunter" happened closer to the beginning of the movie and somehow even made it into the trailer. Fortunately, my fear that the rest of the film would continue along the same dangerously ludicrous lines turned out to be unfounded.
The interesting and provocative concept was implemented skillfully and effectively and the sensitive historical subject was treated carefully, in a graceful manner, with a good taste and a proper respect.
The directing, the casting and the acting in "Abraham Lincoln: VampireHunter" mostly did not disappoint.
Timur Bekmambetov was able to repeat both the professional and the box office success of his 2008 movie "Wanted" by producing and directing an above-average action flick that kept the audience excited and entertained until the very end.
Rufus Sewell was good as usual in the role of the chief vampire Adam, creating an original vivid character that nicely blended charisma, style, and self-irony. In my opinion, however, Sewell's Adam was not fascinating enough for an ancient demonic creature who was supposed to be a thousands years old ancestor of all vampires. I cannot help but thinking about the Bill Nighy's magnificent Viktor from the "Underworld" movie series whose immense charisma by far exceeded everything that Sewell's Adam could possibly offer.
A similar charge can be held against Dominic Cooper, whose Henry Sturgess was charming yet too lightweight for a mysterious stranger responsible for first saving Abraham Lincoln's life and then initiating him into the secret order of the powerful vampire hunters.
My personal favorite was Marton Csokas in the role of Jack Barts – a nasty, cunning, and ruthless vampire, responsible for the death of Abraham Lincoln's mother in the movie. Marton Csokas played his relatively small role masterfully, and, similarly to Sewell, employed a so appropriate strong touch of self-irony in his performance. The chase scene with Abraham Lincoln furiously pursuing Jack Barts to get his long-awaited and earned through much suffering revenge was arguably the best scene in the whole movie.
Overall, the fight scenes in the "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" were done very well. They were imaginative, original, colorful - far superior to the dull monotonous back and forth clashing in "The Avengers".
Portraying the 16th President of the United States was without a question the most difficult acting task in the movie. While the rest of the cast had much more freedom in impersonating their characters, the actor playing Abraham Lincoln for obvious reasons faced various constraints in order to remain true to the historical image. He, for example, could not afford the luxury of self-irony widely employed by the rest of the cast. Nevertheless, previously little known Benjamin Walker passed the tough acting test with flying colors and delivered a multifaceted, nuanced performance that powerfully reflected the character development. His Abraham Lincoln was both likable and believable at various stages of life – from youth to maturity.
A promising talent Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whom some of you might remember for her strong lead performance in "The Thing" was nearly perfect in "Abraham Lincoln: VampireHunter" as Mary Todd Lincoln. Her small but warm and touching role became a nice addition to the movie ensemble dominated by the violent male characters.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Erin Wasson whose unimpressive performance essentially ruined the potentially very interesting character of Vadona - the dangerous and sinister Adam's sister.
Finally, the solid original music score by Henry Jackman ("X-Men: First Class") was a first-class citizen in the movie, easily flowing from the lyric heights to the dramatic depths to the violent rage of the fights and chases.
Overall, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" decisively surpassed the far more popular "The Avengers" in almost every area, except maybe the special effects.
"The Avengers" was an unworthy effort wasted on an unworthy cause. The only true valuables spent in vain on "The Avengers" were time and money. There was no good script, or directing, or acting, or music to be sorry about.
"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" on the other hand had many good, redeeming qualities including the script, the directing, the acting, the music, and the humor. For that very reason it is truly regrettable when such a worthy effort is wasted on such an unworthy, hollow, and disposable subject as "vampire hunting".
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