MOVIE REVIEW

Abraham Lincoln
VAMPIRE HUNTER

By:
Vanessa Veronica 31
XII MIPA I

SMA Negeri 4 Denpasar

2016
 Abraham Lincoln
VAMPIRE HUNTER
IMDb : 5.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes : 35%
Roger Ebert : 3/4
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 2012
British-American dark fantasy action horror film directed
by Timur Bekmambetov, based on the 2010 mashup
novel of the same name with 105 minutes running time.
The novel's author, Seth Grahame-Smith, wrote the
screenplay with Simon Kinberg. Benjamin Walker stars as
the title character with supporting roles by Dominic
Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rufus
Sewell, and Marton Csokas. The real-life figure Abraham
Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (1861–
1865), is portrayed in the novel and the film as having a
secret identity as a vampire hunter. The film was produced by Tim Burton,
Bekmambetov and Jim Lemley. Filming began in Louisiana in March 2011 and the
film was released in 3D on June 20, 2012 in the United Kingdom and June 22, 2012
in the United States. Budget needed for this film was $69 million and grossed $116.4
million.

Benjamin as Abraham Lincoln Dominic as Henry Sturgess Anthony as Will Johnson

Mary as Mary Todd Rufus as Adam Marton as Jack Barts

 The story begins in 1818, Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) lives in
Indiana with his parents, Nancy (Robin McLeavy) and Thomas (Joseph Mawle), who
works at a plantation owned by Jack Barts (Marton Csokas). There, Lincoln befriends
a young African American boy, William Johnson (Anthony Mackie), and intervenes
when he sees Johnson being beaten by a slaver. Because of his son's actions, that
night, Barts break into his house and attack Nancy. She dies shortly afterwards.
Thomas tells Lincoln that Barts poisoned Nancy.
Nine years later, Lincoln decides to get revenge against Barts. He attacks
Barts at the docks, but Barts, who is actually a vampire, overpowers him. However,
Lincoln is rescued by Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper). Sturgess explains that
vampires exist, and offers to teach Lincoln to be a vampire hunter. Lincoln accepts
and, after a decade of training, travels to Springfield, Illinois. During his training,
Sturgess tells Lincoln that the vampires in America descend from Adam (Rufus
Sewell), a vampire who owns a plantation in New Orleans with his sister, Vadoma
(Erin Wasson). Sturgess also tells Lincoln of the vampires' weakness is silver.
In Springfield, Lincoln befriends shopkeeper Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson),
and meets Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Though Sturgess warned him not
to form any close relationships, Lincoln develops romantic feelings for Mary.
Lincoln successfully finds and defeats Barts. Before dying, Barts reveals that
Sturgess is also a vampire. Lincoln confronts Sturgess, who reveals that, several years
ago, he was attacked and bitten by Adam. Because Sturgess' soul was impure, he
became a vampire, and that prevented him from harming Adam or any other vampire.
Sturgess has since been training vampire hunters, hoping to destroy Adam.
Disappointed, Lincoln decides to abandon his mission. However, Adam learns
of his activities and kidnaps Johnson to lure Lincoln into a trap at his plantation.
Adam captures Lincoln and tries to recruit him, revealing his plans to turn the United
States into a nation of the undead. Speed rescues his friends, and they escape to Ohio.
Lincoln marries Mary and begins his political career, campaigning to abolish
slavery. Sturgess warns Lincoln that the slave trade keeps vampires under control, as
vampires use slaves for food, and if Lincoln interferes, the vampires will retaliate.
After Lincoln's election as President of the United States of America, he moves to the
White House with Mary, where they have a son, William Wallace Lincoln (Cameron
M. Brown). William is later bitten by Vadoma and dies.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis (John Rothman) convinces Adam to
deploy his vampires on the front lines. Lincoln orders the confiscation of all the
silverware in the area and has it melted to produce silver weapons. Speed, believing
that Lincoln will lead them to death, defects and informs Adam that Lincoln will
transport the silver by train.
On the train, Adam and Vadoma attack Lincoln, Sturgess, and Johnson, who
have set fire to the upcoming trestle. During the fight, in which Speed is killed, Adam
learns that the train holds only rocks. Lincoln reveals that Speed's betrayal was a ruse
to lure Adam into a trap. Lincoln uses his silver watch to stab Adam, killing him, and
the three escape the train before it explodes. Meanwhile, Mary and the ex-slaves have
transported the silver to Gettysburg through the Underground Railroad.
The now leaderless Confederate vampires stage a final, massive assault and
are met head on by the Union. Armed with their silver weapons, the Union soldiers
destroy the vampires and win the war.
A few months later, on April 14, 1865, Sturgess tells Lincoln that the
remaining vampires have fled the country. Sturgess unsuccessfully tries to convince
Lincoln to allow him to turn Lincoln into a vampire, so that he can become immortal.
That night, John Wilkes Booth kills Lincoln.
In modern times, Sturgess approaches a young man at a bar in Washington,
D.C. as he once approached Lincoln.
Screenplay writer Seth Grahame-Smith, adapting his own novel, figured out
clever ways to interweave Honest Abe’s vampire-
slaughtering obsession with documented fact about our 16th
president: Lincoln’s mom died when he was a kid. He
chopped wood with an axee, worked as a store clerk while
cramming for his law exams and endured the death of his
young son during the Civil War.
Plug those factoids into a 19th-century American
landscape teeming with plantation-owning vampires, and
faster than you can say, “Four score and seven years ago,”
there’s your high concept in a stovepipe hat.
Vampire Hunter’s supporting characters could have
added some auxiliary comedic juice to the intrinsically outlandish setup, but the
decision to play everything straight dooms the movie to the trash heap of boring
cinema. Dominic Cooper projects gloomy glamour in the role of Lincoln’s
mysterious mentor Henry Sturgess, but plays it morose throughout. Lincoln’s friend
Will (Anthony Mackie) serves strictly as plot fodder.
At their best, Vampire Hunter’s set pieces unfurl like color-blasted fever
dreams: A silhouetted Lincoln chases a vampire across a stampede of horses smeared
in dusty orange. The blood from the president’s axe morphs into a pen stroke in the
journal that recounts his superhero antics. As villainous Adam uncorks a history of
vampires through the ages, paintings morph into blood-sucking thugs.
Overall, the film doesn't quite deliver a fully-formed combination of history
and supernatural horror, but for anyone who can accept the experience on its own
terms, these are plenty of entertaining moments.
Screenshots: