| Site locale: United States |
|
||||
|
||||||
|
Best Blu-ray Deals  
|
Best Blu-ray Deals, See All the Deals » |
Top deals |
Price drops
|
 $4.99 |  $7.96 |  $14.99 |  $8.99 |  $7.99 |  $4.99 |  $15.47 |  $7.99 |  $29.99 |  $4.99 |  $9.99 |  $19.99 |  $9.93 |  $9.25 |  $4.99 |  $4.99 |  $33.99 |  $35.00 |  $4.99 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter2012 | 105 min | R | 2.39:1
Fun is in short supply during “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” a strange development for a picture that posits the 16th President of the United States as a fearless destroyer of bloodsuckers, armed with a silver-dipped ax and gentlemanly outrage. I’m not suggesting such a premise needs to be camp, but it should be a widescreen riot of the highest order. In director Timur Bekmambetov’s care, “Vampire Hunter” is a CGI-drenched drag suffering from a gutted script and dependence on noise to carry itself forward. Poorly cast and much too severe for its own good, this ambitious attempt to pants history in the blockbuster tradition carries unnecessary weight, eventually slumping to a dreary finale that renders the whole effort a missed opportunity. 
As a young boy, Abraham Lincoln (played as an adult by Benjamin Walker) witnessed the suffering of slavery, instilling him with a desire to help his fellow man. Unfortunately, Abraham couldn’t help his poor mother from being drained of life by malicious vampire Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). Swearing revenge, Lincoln finds assistance from Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), a vampire hunter willing to teach the angry young man a few tricks of the trade. Settling in Springfield, Lincoln takes work as a shopkeeper by day and demon killer by night, working his way back to Barts one ghoul at a time. As the years passes, Lincoln embarks on law school and joins the government, also romancing and marrying Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), growing to be the leader of a fractured nation. However, vamp boss Adam (Rufus Sewell) has other plans for Lincoln, backing the South with undead troops to help win the Civil War and finish off the President for good. Bekmambetov is the helmer behind such pictures as “Night Watch” and the 2008 Angelina Jolie hit, “Wanted.” He’s a creative force with a glossy, high-tech sensibility, showing little interest in practical matters of movie production, instead going full bore with computer-assisted imagery. If there was ever a film that needed a little goopy, gritty texture, it’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” where its historical setting and creature feature impulses could run free. Bekmambetov keeps the enterprise stage-bound, with heavy use of greenscreen to imagine the future President’s rise from huntsman to leader, observing the character slam around fanged foe with his mighty ax, taking more than his share of beatings along the way. What should be an exciting celebration of Lincoln’s hostility instead feels leaden, with a tired use of slo-mo and assorted trends in action cinematography to show off his skills. Even a bravura sequence where Lincoln takes on Barts in the midst of a horse stampede is a letdown, resembling a video game cutscene instead of a truly astonishing confrontation unleashed on a most unusual battlefield. 
Adapting his own 2010 book for the screen, Seth Grahame-Smith doesn’t pull off the delicate balance between iconic historical developments and horror entertainment, overstuffing the script with a grand design of character interactions and villainous scheming. While launched with confidence, the story is eventually shaved down to the essentials, halting a few subplots and motivations (Lincoln’s mid-movie clash with Adam at a plantation is an editorial disaster), leaving the narrative disjointed and cruelly unremarkable. The director can’t find a rhythm to the picture, slogging through Lincoln’s domestic concerns, while the action beats are excessive, lacking a human feel necessary for such an outlandish plot. Attempts to play cheeky with historical figures such as Stephen A. Douglas (Alan Tudyk) and Harriet Tubman (Jaqueline Fleming) largely fall flat, as the feature doesn’t have the twinkle in its eye to accurately blend SuperLincoln with TrueLincoln into a loving, ax-swinging whole. Cursed with a lack of casting imagination, “Abraham Lincoln” suffers greatly in the acting department. The ensemble is either stiff or bored, with Sewell playing his umpteenth antagonist, and doing a poor job of it here, displaying a complete absence of menace as king of the vamps. Walker is more of a question mark than a misfire, looking the part with interesting make-up work (twentysomething Lincoln looks exactly like a young Liam Neeson), though he’s a bland screen presence, great with presidential regality but not much with heroic charisma. Scenes of courtship between Lincoln and Mary Todd are tender, but there’s little room for romance. And there’s Anthony Mackie, appearing in a supporting role as Lincoln’s African-American pal and eventual confidant William Johnson, but the role doesn’t add much to the story beyond plainly reinforcing just how openhearted Lincoln was. If there was one thing the President hated more than vampires, it was slavery. 
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” climaxes with a deafening showdown on a runaway train, which would be an enticing proposition had Bekmambetov not already covered the same ground in “Wanted.” Instead, we’re treated to a numbing exercise in blazing visual effects and a screeching sound design, diluting the insanity of watching Abraham Lincoln bat around vampires to save humanity. Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anthony Mackie, Rufus Sewell, Dominic Cooper, Robin McLeavy, Marton Csokas Director: Timur Bekmambetov » See full cast & crew |
 
Trending Blu-ray Movies
Trending in Theaters
Most Popular Blu-ray Movie Deals
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This web site is not affiliated with the Blu-ray Disc Association. All trademarks are the property of the respective trademark owners. © 2002-2013 Blu-ray.com. All rights reserved. Mobile | Registration problems | Business/Advertising Inquiries | Privacy Policy | Legal Notices |
$106,619,139
