PRESIDENT BY DAY. HUNTER BY NIGHT.
In 1827, young Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) tries to kill the vampire who murdered his mother; it is the start of the future President’s secret career as an axe-wielding slayer of bloodsuckers. How can you go wrong with a set-up like that? The movie may be choppily edited and doesn’t offer a sense of imagination or compelling-enough acting to overcome the challenge of moving the story beyond a series of simple showdowns between Abe and vampires… but this is nevertheless absurdly entertaining in 3D, with the kind of gloriously over-the-top action we’ve come to expect from the director.
2012-U.S. 105 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Screenplay, Novel: Seth Grahame-Smith. Cast: Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln), Dominic Cooper (Henry Sturges), Anthony Mackie (Will Johnson), Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus Sewell, Marton Csokas. Cameo: Alan Tudyk.
Trivia: Co-produced by the director and Tim Burton. Tom Hardy, Eric Bana and Adrien Brody were allegedly considered for the lead.