Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

        I’m going to start this off with a cliche: The book was better than the movie.  The novel by Seth Grahame-Smith was a cult hit of revisionist history that was surprising free of camp and took itself completely seriously.  In a clever and adroit fashion, it blended actual historical fact with fantastical vampire fiction.  It was enjoyable how Grahame-Smith was able to interlace the vampire narrative into events that actually happened.  It was a fun and enjoyable page turner that had an intelligence far above its’ eye-rolling title.  Grahame-Smith was tapped to do the screenplay for the movie version of this, which makes it all the more confusing why this film took a wrong turn.

Let me say that, for a vampire movie, I’ve seen worse.  In fact, there as much about this I did enjoy.  My main qualm is that the film’s narrative was significantly different than the book (which is surprising since the screenplay writer and author are the same person).  Where the book delighted in dissecting historical events and speeches and finding clever ways to seamlessly weave vampires into the story, the movie came off as more of a kung fu apprentice chop house film.  Lincoln was perfectly cast with Benjamin Walker (looking like a young Liam Neeson) and his vampire mentor was played by the more than capable Dominic Cooper, so it wasn’t for lack of talent that this film fell short.  Much like the title, the film went for style over substance.

The story revolves around a young Abe Lincoln witnessing the death of his mother at the hands of a vampire.  He pledges his life to defeating vampires.  Being only human, despite his legendary strength, he is no match for their supernatural strength.  He soon discovers they are everywhere.  Most notably they are in the South, where they are the leading proponents of slavery in order to supply themselves with an unlimited food source.  Young Lincoln makes several unsuccessful attempts at killing vampires, barely escaping with his life, when he catches the attention of a rogue vampire named Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper).  We are not sure of Henry’s true intentions (part of the mystery to be unraveled), but he takes young Abraham under his wing and teaches him how to kill vampires.  

What follows is the obligatory training montages, where I must admit, it’s cool to see Lincoln wield his silver coated ax.  Still, it had a very cheap karate movie feel to it.  The director also tried to make the film shots abstract and stylized (It worked in the film ‘300’, but you can’t pull that off in every film).   We follow Lincoln’s life in becoming a shop keeper, then studying law, and finally going into politics.  All the while, he leads a double life hunting vampires  whose locations Henry provides.  The life of a vampire hunter is meant to be monastic, but of course Mary Todd Lincoln (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is introduced as a love interest and causes him to veer from his path.

Lincoln decides that the problem is too widespread for one man to accomplish.  Once he realizes that vampires are at the highest levels of the Confederacy, he decides to fight vampires through politics.  A life long anti-slavery advocate, he realizes that vampires must be wiped out once and for all if all men are to be free.  Lincoln was a gifted speaker and able to move audiences like no other President.  Unfortunately, Walker doesn’t have the same gift, so his rousing Lincoln speeches fell a little flat which is a shame. Part of the book’s charm was reading Lincoln’s famous speeches and understanding them under a different context of vampire lore.

The lead Southern vampire, who was the first of all vampires, named Adam (a little heavy handed in his name?) is played by Rufus Sewell (another actor of talent).  He recognizes the danger and instructs his human lackey, Jefferson Davis, to secede from the Union (Uh huh, see how all that works in).  Jefferson knows his vampire master’s  intent is to enslave all mankind, but hopes for a better life if he does their bidding.  What follows is the Civil War.  We all know the outcome, so I won’t go into the details other than to say that vampires were part of every battle from Fort Sumner to Gettysburg.  Bet you didn’t know that did you?

I wish I hadn’t read the book and just taken this film in on it’s own.  While it wasn’t a waste of time, I realized how much better it could have been.  The intentional pulp fiction title worked well in the novel and it was an enjoyable read.  The film was overly stylized and lacked the coherence, meticulous historical detail, and seriousness of the book.  Some of the stunts the 50 year old President did prevented that suspension of disbelief that is essential if a film like this is to succeed.  The only thing I can say is that if you have a choice; read the book.  BTW, that’s the last time I will ever say, ‘The book is better than the movie’ as that is such a cliche.  I couldn’t help it in this case.

I give this film ** stars

Prometheus

         It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 30 years since Ridley Scott brought us the space-horror film of all space-horror films; ‘Alien’.  The film shot both Ridley Scott and, the then relatively unknown actress, Sigourney Weaver to international stardom.  What made ‘Alien’ epic was that it was not just a cheesy space monster movie, rather a deep and dark vision of the future.  It was multi-layered, tension-filled, and provided total suspension of disbelief.  A completely fleshed out universe that mirrored every nightmare about what we thought might be out there.

Over the last three decades a number of sequels have been spawned (chose that word on purpose).  James Cameron helmed the first sequel;‘Aliens’.  While a fantastic film in it’s own right, it started down the path of steering away from complex story telling to becoming an action franchise.  Each film was less satisfying until they just became ways to think of unique ways for the Aliens to kill people.  When all that was exhausted, they started to team up with other monster franchises (Aliens vs Predators) and truly came close to becoming a B-movie endeavor.  We almost forget what an epic film started the whole ball rolling.

Ridley Scott returns to the franchise and re-explores the universe of 'Alien’ in the prequel, ‘Prometheus’.  Scott is a well known epic creator (Blade Runner, Gladiator), but while this has the scope and depth of an epic, I don’t believe it will attain that status.  That is not to say that I didn’t truly respect this film and think it is among his best work, it’s just that it’s not going to resonate with the audiences like the others did (maybe cult status??).  This is not a movie to be watched on the TV screen.  For full impact, one needs to see it on the big screen.  The sound and alien vistas are of a scope that only a theater can do justice.

The film is set in 2089 (we finally have a time context).  Archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a series of cave paintings that indicate the various arrivals of extraterrestrial beings throughout the course of human history.   Comparing the paintings to other cave paintings found throughout the world, they find that they are exact matches.  They are convinced that the paintings are an invitation by aliens to come find them when we are ready.  The two archeologists find a bankroll for their trillion dollar effort from the enigmatic company, Weyland Industries.   

Jump forward two years later and the Weyland Industries space ship, Prometheus arrives with it’s crew in suspended sleep.  They are watched over by the hyper intelligent android, David (played to eerie perfection by my current favorite actor, Michael Fassbender).  Charlize Theron plays the company representative and team leader Meredith Vickers with icy beauty.  Idris Elba (also rapidly becoming my favorite actor) plays Janet the crusty ship captain.  While the motives for coming may vary, they all believe that they are going to find the answers to the birth of humanity.  Shaw and Halloway are convinced that an alien race they refer to as ‘The Engineers’ created humanity and deposited them on earth.  

The planet (technically a moon) where they arrive seems barren with the exception of one enormous cavernous man made artifact.  As the team begins to explore the ancient chambers they slowly start to piece together a puzzle that is nothing what they expected.  Instead of finding the wondrous beginnings of man, they discover a blue print for the extermination of all life.  They begin to realize that the giant chamber is not completely devoid of life and the true horror of what is planned becomes clear and the fight for their lives begin.  

What I truly enjoyed about this film is that it expanded our knowledge and Scott’s vision of the universe he gave us in the original ‘Alien’, yet did not really answer any questions we had.  In fact, if anything, it raised even more questions and left many things up to our interpretation as we discovered pieces of the puzzle with the crew.  While there is nothing more satisfying than a big explosive ending where all the bad guys are blown up and the heroes go riding into the sunset, there is something to be said for a film that has no easy answers and has you leaving the theater wondering exactly what happened.  I won’t do a spoiler and say if we even see the Aliens so recognizable from the series in this prequel, but I will say that if it’s possible to have the Alien universe clearer yet more muddled at the same time, this film accomplishes it.  This is a powerful film that has plenty of action, but isn’t an action film.

So many great actors were assembled for this and give such exceptional performances that I hope this will gain in prestige as time goes on.  Fassbender’s interpretation of the android David channels the same eerie feeling of Hal from ‘2001: a Space Odyssey’.  Idris Elba demonstrates yet again his talent for specialized accents and portrays the world weary captain perfectly.  Charlize Theron and Guy Pierce (unrecognizable as Peter Weyland) play the evil one-percenter corporate executives with imperial arrogance.  Noomi Rapace, the Swedish actress, proves that she isn’t just a  one hit wonder (‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’).  Her Dr Shaw is a worthy successor to Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley.  

Go to this film expecting a powerful epic level film that challenges you and provides no easy answers.  Perfect for after-the-movie coffee house discussion.  The tension is excruciating and the gore is unsettling, just like the original ‘Alien’, but this film stands on its’ own and should be appreciated apart from the movie that inspired it.  Another great masterpiece from Ridley Scott.  A true visionary.

I give this film **** (mostly out of respect)