Seth Grahame-Smith is an already established author, but this year he has proven himself to be quite good at writing movies as well. Abraham Lincoln will be divisive film, mainly because Grahame-Smith gives viewers so much credit: He believes that people can accept a movie that is a high quality entry in a variety of genres all at the same time.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter covers the president’s life from his traumatic childhood to right before his assassination, but incorporating a quest to rid the world of vampires into the plot. The book, written by Grahame-Smith, is apparently humorous in that is reads like a biography (I haven’t actually read it), but as screenwriter, Grahame-Smith takes the story in a whole different direction. As a so-absurd-it’s-hilarious tale, the film instantly satisfies, and he knows not to overdo that angle. The movie also works as a Grindhouse-style flick wherein the filmmakers pretend they aren’t in on the joke, but it manages to exceed this limited genre by not turning into a full parody. In fact, the themes and metaphors are surprisingly complex for a summer flick, and the movie ends up raising some interesting points and becoming weirdly patriotic. Most importantly of all, though, is that the movie is a solid action film with excellently choreographed fights and great visuals.
Tim Burton produces and works with Grahame-Smith in much the same way as they did on Dark Shadows. Their pictures hop from idea to idea and genre to genre, and manage to be effective at all of them--as long as viewers don’t mind the switch. It certainly gives them a lot of credit.
Timur Bekmambetov made Wanted a hit with stylized, violent, over-the-top, and thrilling action sequences. He does the same here in a dream pairing with Zack Snyder’s editor (and thus slow-mo master) William Hoy. Also worth noting is that he gets good performances from the cast. Benjamin Walker is a relative unknown, but he is likable and charismatic as the stoic president. It takes some skill to make a mark in a role previously played by Jimmy Stewart and Gregory Peck (and Trey Parker!). Dominic Cooper, who is most widely known as making Howard Stark almost as charming as his son in Captain America: The First Avenger, but I started to doubt his abilities when he hammed it up a bit in The Devil’s Double. Here, though, he is at the top of his game, which means he is really great (Cooper plays Lincoln’s shady mentor). Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a great dynamic with Walker as Mary Todd and Rufus Sewell is solid as the vampiric villain.
Another thing to note is the awesome costume design by Varvara Avdyushko (Wanted) and Carlo Poggioli (Van Helsing). It is historically accurate but yet fits for fight sequences and looks cool; it deserves an Academy Award nomination (that it will not get).
Abraham Lincoln is a good movie that is also enormously fun, in you are able to handle several different genres packed into one fantastic picture.
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