Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter online review movies

Hovering half-way between being serious and being funny, this is a great movie. Areal movie. Given the rarity of good filmsmade in Hollywood these days, I had no reasonable expectations, statistically, for a good film here. So I went into the cinema and hoped for the best, but expected nothing. Imagine my surprise when I found that "Abe Lincoln" is 1. a well-acted period film with great sets and costumes, 2. a wildly paced action special effects feast, 3. an effectively witty self-satirical historical rewrite and 4. a gruesomely graphic horror flick! I don't see this as a perfect film--it's got flaws. But the handful of flaws that bother me, I can ignore, because this is a film made with a joyous spirit, and the overall structure works well. I've seen this fivetimes in the theatre at this point. I haven't seen a film that many times theatrically in over twenty years! I had read the book and enjoyed it, but had no idea what the filmversion might be like. Writer Seth Grahame-Smith has tailored his book into something simpler and less grim for the screen. I think the decision to make the film a fun action movie was a smart one. It's a wild ride. History is transformed into mythic fantasy in this yarn detailing the never-before-told story of Lincoln's lifelong battles with supernatural evil. Indeed, the opening words of narration,"History prefers legends to men," express the awareness that events are altered in retrospection, to suit our thirst for myth, for purity of rights and wrongs. But the"rewrite" that ensues shows us the maddest symbolic extremes. Is this a commentary about America's changing self-image? An indictment of our entertainment culture's increasing obsession with simplistic heroes, loud noises and glorified bloodshed? A condemnation that is strangely exemplary of the problem? Without winking, this film makes many sly jabs at the "typical," common-denominator, American action film. It's simultaneously silly and profoundly moving--a film sostrange that many scratch their heads, but in time, I think, it will come to be regarded as a classic of genrecinema. Copious details of theunreal are interwoven with dramatized fact, and by the time the whole thing is wrapped up, we have witnessed scenes of outlandish fantasy as well as scenes of a young nation being shaped through moral and political conflict. A wide spectrum of emotions is expressed. Sweeping vistas, vital romance, epic battles: It might reasonably be said thatthis is the "Gone with the Wind" of vampire films. Thereis an ecstasy of absurdity. It's fun because it's just plain crazy, but in an expensive, lavish, eloquent, opulent way. The humor here is quite subtle, most of the time. This film suggests to the viewer that one of America's greatest Presidents was actually also a fearsome, axe-swinging, monster-slaughtering badass. The story of how all this came to be is lovingly presented as the most serious thing in the world, despite its patent ridiculousness. This "straight-faced" approach is really the key to the humor, and achieves a smart, sophisticated effect. The Civil War-era story links the intended secession of theSouthern states with the rise to power of vampires in those states; so vampirism becomes a metaphor for slavery and man's general inhumanity to himself. The typical horror film focuses onprimal fears, and never on issues of morality; so while largely a horror film, this seeks to turn some basic principles of the horror film sideways. The meddling does not stop there. It is true that the story treats its history elements as "flexible material" to be modified as necessary for storytelling purposes (is this unexpected for a film with a title like"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"?).