Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
Screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith
Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith
Stars: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie, Marton Csokas, Jimmi Simpson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
This is one of the rare times that I would read the book before seeing the obvious butchered, er -- altered adaptation of said book. I reviewed the book on the other site. The book was enjoyable because it took a boring biography and jazzed it up. Hearing the awful word about this movie, I stayed away. Seeing the movie now, my prediction did not make this movie better.
Everyone knows about the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (Walker) or do you? Well, obviously not or there wouldn't be a movie about it, except for that Steven Spielberg movie.All of his life, Abe has been the victim of vampires. They took his mother and he wants to avenge her death. He meets strange fellow named Henry Sturges (Cooper) that takes him as his protégé to slay vampires. There is one vampire that is taking advantage of the turmoil of the country and wants to keep it that way, Adam (Sewell).
Going into this flick, I knew that the storyline was going to be changed from page to screen. I get it. The same person adapted his own book to the big screen. It seems the director wanted to make the movie bigger than it should have been. Knowing the book gives you more ways to trash the adaptation of it. Characters were jettisoned and plot points were scraped. Fine. Where the idea come up of Lincoln having a black friend named Will Johnson (Mackie)? Really? Putting a generic "villain" in the movie is all right, but the movie should have focused on the slavery issue than a 5000-year-old vampire named Adam.
The biggest problem with the movie that Grahame-Smith tried to make an action flick out of a silly fantasy historical drama. The movie was a hodgepodge of biopic, romantic comedy, brainless action flick and Twilight. Making the vampires scary was a good choices, but they were utilized correctly. You had the vampires out in the daytime and they are supposed to wear sunglasses to protect their eyes to the sun. But, the vampires take their glasses off where sunlight floods in through window or through it doesn't kill them. What?
It seemed the "action" sequences were laughably bad. Why would you have a chase sequence happening during an obvious CGI horse sequence. It looked muddled and ridiculous. This film's failure at the box office should give us any indication that the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie will not see the light of day. Let it stay dead and buried. Pun intended.
My Rating
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