Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Movie in the Works

[terry78]

Moriarty I trust more than Harry. The latter likes to gush.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Some of Variety's review:

Suggesting an auspicious beginning for a franchise of demon-slaying politicians ("President Evil," anyone?), "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a Civil War-era actioner of questionable taste and historical accuracy but surprisingly consistent entertainment value.

Dovetailing the historical and the supernatural, the script hinges on the metaphoric linking of two unholy scourges, slavery and vampirism. It's a thin but effective conceit, sealed by the mildly incendiary image of noted Confederate leader Jefferson Davis (John Rothman) bargaining with New Orleans-based vampire honcho Adam (Rufus Sewell).

If anything, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" could have used more of that casually shocking, character-assassinating dark humor, though its unexpected secret weapon is how effectively it often plays as straight drama. Indeed, the picture works in no small part by applying a sheen of irreverently reverent mythology to one of the most lionized figures in American history, a physically imposing proto-superhero who here gets to decapitate and disembowel the most bankable movie monsters of the moment.

There isn't a trace of irony to the way Walker channels Lincoln, his look of earnest, square-jawed determination shining through even from under a beard, a stovepipe hat and several layers of old-age makeup. He and Winstead strike remarkably poignant chords -- no small achievement for a movie whose most memorably gratuitous action setpiece brings to mind a demented cross between a wuxia epic and a wild horse stampede.

Always on the move and disinclined to overstay its welcome, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is almost good enough to make one wish it had been conceived and executed with a bit more care, or pushed to goofier and/or more visceral extremes. The period look is serviceable but a bit drab, and the 3D conversion does little to enhance Caleb Deschanel's sepia-heavy widescreen images. William Hoy's editing has fun with some violently whooshing scene transitions; naturally, the soundtrack wouldn't be complete without some Linkin Park.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117947787/

 

[terry78]

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120620/REVIEWS/120629989


Three stars from R.E. He likes how absurd it is, yet still manages to tie in a lot of the historical truths to coexist with the fiction, like

Spoiler

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Predicted to get around $20 mill this weekend. Considering it cost $70 mill....ouch. But I'm expecting it to get something like that.

Fox's "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" also launches wide this weekend, with the pic's most optimistic projections ranging in the low-$20 millions. The studio, however, is playing it cool after last weekend's paltry openings for "Rock of Ages" and "That's My Boy," citing expectations in the mid-teens.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118055832.html?cmpid=RSS|News|FilmNews

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is generating healthy interest from just one slice of the potential ticket buyers — men age 25 and younger. Fox assumes that 65% of ticket buyers will be male, concentrated between the ages of 17 and 34. But because the film is rated R, many teens won't be able to purchase admissions. (The movie opens just two weeks after Fox released another R-rated summer film, Ridley Scott's "Prometheus.")

Early reviews for the $69-million film have been mixed to positive, and if word of mouth runs favorably, the movie might gross $20 million or more in its debut weekend.

Fox has worked hard to woo a core audience of younger men while also trying to broaden the film's appeal. In addition to promoting "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" at March's WonderCon convention in Anaheim, the studio invited bloggers to the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois, where they met with the filmmakers and toured the museum's archives.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-word-20120621,0,6070858.story

 

[xwolverine2]

seems critics are pretty hard to please this summer.. no movies have gotten above a 75% this summer..

Avengers being the exception at 93%...

I guess people were just hoping that Brave, Snow white, Prometheus, MIB3, Battleship,Dark Shadows would all blow them away or something lol

tough crowd.. its the summer for gods sakes

 

[Marvolo]

seems critics are pretty hard to please this summer.. no movies have gotten above a 75% this summer..

Avengers being the exception at 93%...

I guess people were just hoping that Brave, Snow white, Prometheus, MIB3, Battleship,Dark Shadows would all blow them away or something lol

tough crowd.. its the summer for gods sakes

No sensible person thought Battleship would blow them away. The summer doesn't excuse ****** and lazy filmaking

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Ha...ouch. This one guy I follow on Twitter is at the ALVH midnight screening, he's the only one in the theater....

 

[Ultimatehero]

I think 'Avengers' just rose the bar so high that it's really hard for films of the same genre to even compete without being seen as "not as good as 'The Avengers.'" I actually saw that happening the moment after the film ended. The world now knows whats possible and really won't settle for less. Any other summer Snow White & Prometheus & MIB 3 would have stuck out more I think.

The only movies where that line of thinking didn't come into play for me was Madagascar 3 and Rock of Ages (second favorite film of the summer) because their genres are just really really different from Avengers.

That said, reading VARIETY and EBERT'S review I'm in for adding this film to my top summer favorites since it seems to have stuck true to the draft of the script I read.

 

[Marvolo]

Wow, I'm really surprised Ebert gave this a favorable review!

 

[bullets]

I think with Ebert it really depends on how he feels that day.

 

[The Shape]

I think with Ebert it really depends on how he feels that day.

It really depends on whether he's had his oatmeal or not.

 

[Ultimatehero]

Definitely doubt that's the case with Ebert, he's said before he judges a film based on what it sets out to accomplish and if it accomplishes it well. Having read the script, it accomplishes it well. Most negative reviews just seem to be from reviewers entering to hate it from the start seen from them saying how ridiculous the plot is, how different history is yet not seeing how it's been re-worked. Plus those reviews say it's all action while the others (Variety, Ebert, etc) place emphasis on the historical nature of it. I'll see tomorrow, but as said VARIETY and EBERT both practically said the same as I thought after finishing the script months ago and I too entered reading it skeptically.

 

[spider-neil]

I have to say I hated this movie. If you want me to suspend my disbelief, fine, but don't juxapose the fight with vampires with the emotional weight of freedom and the cival war.

I thought this movie was going to be Lincoin fights vampires the entire movie as a young man and just before credits roll someone turns to him, winking at the camera and says, 'have you ever thought about politics?'.

But this movie deals with the vampire hunting and the political career, I kept getting taken out of the movie over and over again.

5/10

Oh, and the 3D was terrible. Definately save your money and see it in 2D

 

[bullets]

I'm surprised that's what you didn't like about the film. I read the action was terrible because it was mostly slo-mo.

 

[Ultimatehero]

Doesn't really surprise me. That's where these reviews seem to be split. Some think it should have been ridiculous and zany fun (what I was afraid it would be). While others like that it was a somewhat serious film with fun thrown into the mix (what I'm happy it is). That's why I think the RED BAND trailer is what really captured it since that dealt more with the political and drama aspect of things.

 

[Marvolo]

I have to say I hated this movie. If you want me to suspend my disbelief, fine, but don't juxapose the fight with vampires with the emotional weight of freedom and the cival war.

I thought this movie was going to be Lincoin fights vampires the entire movie as a young man and just before credits roll someone turns to him, winking at the camera and says, 'have you ever thought about politics?'.

But this movie deals with the vampire hunting and the political career, I kept getting taken out of the movie over and over again.

5/10

Oh, and the 3D was terrible. Definately save your money and see it in 2D

The civil war was a big part of the book and it fits perfectly. The vampires would have everything to gain by fighting for slavery and ensuring its existence. Plus you can't have Lincoln without the civil war. Honestly sometimes people just need to lighten up. Its fiction.

 

[jacobed]

I've hated this movie since I first saw the trailer and I can't believe I actually went to it and yeah I hated it. It's pretty terrible, story is not good, the cg is pretty terrible and he looks awful as young Abe. I did enjoy Ben Walker's performance and he looked pretty good once the beard came and I thought that Abraham Lincoln overall was a pretty damn good character. The action was not great which was greatly disappointing. He does some pretty cool moves with the axe but at the end of the day the action was very generic and did nothing for me and the last confrontation was awful. What I do think works for this movie however is that it takes itself very seriously. They could have done it as a parody but I like a lot that they didn't. Not the worst movie I've seen this summer but it also wasn't very good. I'd say its a 5 out of 10.

 

[spider-neil]

The civil war was a big part of the book and it fits perfectly. The vampires would have everything to gain by fighting for slavery and ensuring its existence. Plus you can't have Lincoln without the civil war. Honestly sometimes people just need to lighten up. Its fiction.

I never read the comic. I thought the movie was going to be the life BEFORE politics, if that were the case I could have gone with whatever was presented to be because I don't know anything about that aspect of his life.

Maybe it it is something more because I 'was' able to go with Inglorious Basterds, which was also adding a zany slant to a pivotal moment in history.

 

[spider-neil]

Spoiler

The bit with slicing the tree in half and 'truth giving you strength' never comes up again in the entire movie. If a gun is introduced in the 1st act it has to go off in the 3rd act. Not have the 'truth giving you strength' come up again is horrible writing.

 

[Marvolo]

I never read the comic. I thought the movie was going to be the life BEFORE politics, if that were the case I could have gone with whatever was presented to be because I don't know anything about that aspect of his life.

Maybe it it is something more because I 'was' able to go with Inglorious Basterds, which was also adding a zany slant to a pivotal moment in history.

Lol, I was gonna ask what you thought of inglorious basterds take on history. I read the book and when watching the trailers I noticed they didn't convey that well the time periods this film would cover.

 

[Hush]

I thought it was a summer popcorn flick and really that's all this needed to be.

 

[xwolverine2]

saw it.. it was entertaining and everything i expected. Not quite as good, creative, or wild as Wanted though.

the first half when lincoln was young was actually verry well done and it had alot of heart. But as soon as lincoln went political then it lost all its charm and got in that part of lincolns life where you really have to slow down and become another movie... its really an impossible transition storytelling-wise.

But i give Timur credit for at least keeping it entertaining towards the end... even though most of the second half was ruined in the trailers.

tough to rate.. but i definatly felt i got my moneys worth. Curious to see what timur does next... absolutely love his approach to movies

 

[spider-neil]

the first half when lincoln was young was actually verry well done and it had alot of heart. But as soon as lincoln went political then it lost all its charm and got in that part of lincolns life where you really have to slow down and become another movie... its really an impossible transition storytelling-wise.

This is my problem with the movie in a nutshell.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I think 'Avengers' just rose the bar so high that it's really hard for films of the same genre to even compete without being seen as "not as good as 'The Avengers.'" I actually saw that happening the moment after the film ended. The world now knows whats possible and really won't settle for less. Any other summer Snow White & Prometheus & MIB 3 would have stuck out more I think.
.

Which is why most Hollywood movies are average. Lower standards equals people paying to see anything and everything. I expect the next Avenger films to decrease in quality due to pressure on Disney from other studios pissed that they lost so much money this summer.

 

[marvelman2006]

Alright guys so whats the verdict, should it be a

"see it in theaters today" or

"catch a matinee if you have time" or

"wait for blu-ray rental"?



I'm seeing it tommorow night no matter what before the orioles game.