'ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER'

'ABRAHAM LINCOLN:VAMPIRE HUNTER' (R) (2 STARS)

Written by Seth Grahame-Smith based on his novel
Directed by Timur Bekmanbetov
Actors: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, Mary
Elizabeth Winstead, Jimmi Simpson, Martin Csokas

You will get what you expect when you go see "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". Of course you will see our 16th president slaying vampires and the movie is well made. The novelty of seeing the former president slaying vampires wears off after awhile. It's like hearing the offbeat concept ,laughing and realizing that it's pretty clever and funny and then you see the movie and the joke ends right after the first kill. The movie looks good but how long can we watch kill after kill before we get numb. I started to get numb and bored after 45 minutes.

The movie is based on a mash up book by Seth Grahame-Smith who wrote this screenplay. I didn't read the book and after seeing the movie I am kind of glad I didn't. There is some cool commentary on slavery and a few nifty twists but not much story to this movie. There are other mash ups like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and I actually think you could do more with that concept and make a better movie with that ideal then ALVH. I don't need to explain this plot because the title is self explanatory and that is how shallow this movie is.

It doesn't mean it's a bad movie because if you love vampire movies this is different and you probably will like it, I didn't. I am not a big vampire movie fan to begin with. I have a handful of favorites but the vampire movie is getting old to me even with Lincoln partaking in it. The movie is well shot, the vampire/Lincoln clashes are compelling for the first hour at least. The acting is competent and vampire fans will love the concept. I think the remake of "Fright Night" is ten times better but ALVH has it's moments.

I am happy with my "True Blood" fix on HBO, that is the way to do a vampire saga and that is the only good vampire material in years, movies or television. ALVH works for a little bit, will probably please it's fan base and is really not a bad movie. I just got bored after the first hour and by the end I shrugged my shoulders and didn't think anything about it and I probably won't think about it ever again.

P.S. For vampire movies I find much better check out both "Fright Nights", "Martin" and "The Lost Boys" which was offbeat and much better at being offbeat then "ALVH". The best vampire movie ever made in my opinion is easily "Near Dark".