SYNOPSIS: Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov reinvent the time-honored genre and present the terrifying creatures of the night as they were meant to be experienced -- as fierce, visceral, intense and bloodthirsty. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER brings to the screen the secret life of our nation's favorite president . . . as history's greatest hunter of the undead. 

REVIEW: Hollywood's obsession with vampires continues with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter based on the book by the same name. In the movie, Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, is portrayed to have a secret life as a vampire hunter. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, the man that brought us “Wanted”, one of my favorite movies, again attempts his unique approach to special effects and action. However, here the special effects aren’t as spectacular mainly because of the limited budget. This leads one to believe that the executives at FOX didn’t have much faith in the source material.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter tells the story of Abraham Lincoln(Benjamin Walker), whose mother was murder by a vampire because of a debt his father owed. Abraham Lincoln grows up to despise vampires and vows to kill the vampire that murdered his mother. On the path to becoming a vampire hunter, Abraham meets Henry Sturgess(Dominic Cooper), the man that trains him. Lincoln becomes a master, wielding a silver laced axe. Once his training is over, Lincoln is sent to New Orleans to kill vampires. While on the hunt, Lincoln manages to have time to obtain a law degree, meet and marry the beautiful Mary Todd Lincoln(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and get involved in politics. By the time Lincoln is president, the movie mixes the fight for emancipation and the civil war with the war to rid the United States of vampires.

Great action sequences and fighting choreography aren’t enough to save this movie from the mediocre special effects. The slow-mo action sequences are great, but not as good as in “Wanted”. Timur’s signature style is definitely here, but limitations on the budget or the setting of the movie certainly put a cap on what he could do. The 3-D isn’t all that great either and it just makes watching a dark movie like this one look even darker. There are decent performances here and Benjamin Walker pulls off playing the iconic Lincoln; although no performance really stands out. But what hurts the movie the most is that the main villain is weak. He isn’t menacing enough to cause the conflict needed to make us care about the story and the characters.

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