Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)

I watched this movie in July. On opening weekend.

I think I delayed on this because, though I enjoyed it, it was rather 'meh' and I couldn't really get my thoughts together (which was kinda close to none). Admittedly, it wasn't as 'meh' as Avatar, but even I could summon words to describe how 'meh' I felt about Avatar at the time.

[Nowadays, 'meh' makes me speechless.]

This film is basically a biography of Abraham Lincoln, former US president, except it posits that important events in Lincoln's life were influenced by vampires.

Which in turn, led to cool axe-swinging, but I digress.

The main reason why I went to see this movie was because of Timur Bekmambetov, the guy who directed the awesome Day Watch (and the not-that-awesome Wanted), and you can see his chaotic style of action . And by 'chaotic', I don't mean it's messy or anything; it just brings about a sense of helter-skelter that's gorgeous to look at.

Watch Day Watch, and you'll see what I mean.

The pacing in the first half is relatively slow, even though it had the horse scene (which didn't do much for it), but I guess action buffs wouldn't be disappointed. The only action bit I enjoyed was the final scenes on top of the train, which had Lincoln fighting hordes of vampires back-to-back with his best friend, and only using an axe between the both of them.

[It was thrilling.]

Despite the pacing, involving vampires did make everything a lot more interesting. Who would've thought the Civil War was about vampires holding the Confederate South? That the slave trade was thriving because vampires needed food? Who'da thunk?

The ending was surprisingly poignant. Lincoln's vampire mentor offers him immortality, telling him that the both of them could go through history and kill vampires and make the world safer for it. Lincoln refuses the offer, saying that a man's actions instead make him immortal, and leaves for that fateful evening at the theatre.

It shows us that even in historical fiction, you can't change history.

For the ending, I give it a 7.