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Simon Kinberg Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

Simon Kinberg Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

Karen Posada

By

2012/06/22 at 12:00am

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

06.22.2012 | By |

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I was willing to go into ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ with an open mind, which is a hard thing to do since the premise itself it’s laughable. It certainly does have some good action scenes and even the way the storyline is weaved in with some of Lincoln’s real life facts draws you in. Unfortunately, it is very easy to pick at the good things this movie has to offer, because despite those few things the film just falls apart and goes from a horror/ fantasy film to a comedy in a dark setting.

 

This two hour long film begins with Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) reading his diary starting with his childhood, where after a horrific encounter with a vampire he’s left wanting vengeance. Fortunately for him just when he gets the guts to face the deadly vampire, he’s saved by Henry (Dominic Cooper) who teaches him the skills for him to really succeed at this task. He leads a somewhat solitary life until he becomes a shop clerk at Joshua Speed’s (Jimmi Simpson) store; where he meets Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Lincoln decides to focus on politics in order to end slavery, but little does he know that his political actions will enrage the vampires even more than his hunting, especially Adam (Rufus Sewell) the clan leader.  

 

The vampire hunter bit has potential; but inserting a very important historical character is what mainly ruined the film, since it obviously takes seriousness out of it. Although the weapon of choice, an ax, is a bit silly it works in a comical and yet powerful way. The vampires are scary, because they are a combination of humans and monsters, different from the ones we are used to seeing, but some of the vampire rules are changed here and I don’t think that worked. The action scenes are engaging but towards the middle of the film they begin getting a bit ridiculous, specially the horse-chase scene.

 

I went to a screening of the film in 3D and although it worked at times, in some of the scenes the dust flying around was very distracting. Walker has a strong character throughout most of the film, but he fails miserably in one of the scenes where he’s beat up and he can’t remember his eye is swollen shut and opens it continuously; which means he clearly needs to brush up on his acting. Cooper does a convincing job as the hunter’s guide, and Sewell always knows how to play a hate-able bad guy.

 

My biggest problem with this film is that although they tried to mix in fantasy with facts and it worked in some level, it also mocks Lincoln; it definitely makes an interesting point about slavery amongst some good quotes but it’s unsettling and a bit offensive. The story sort of works for the first hour but it falls to pieces, making the public laugh with ridiculous scenarios. I believe this summer has better action movies to watch than a vampire hunting wanna be superhero president.  

Jack Rico

By

2012/02/17 at 12:00am

This Means War

02.17.2012 | By |

This Means War

Making a successful romantic comedy has become quite a critical ordeal for the Hollywood studio system. Their new effort, ‘This Means War,’ an action rom-com, is clumsy in almost every way. ‘This Means War’ fails to reach a peak in any of the aforementioned genres, resulting in absolute mediocrity.

The plot tells the story of two friends who are spies, inseparable since childhood, until life circumstances have them both falling madly in love with the same woman (Reese Witherspoon). Due to the jealousy between them, the city of Chicago will become a  battle zone of gigantic proportions with the goal of one man standing with his future wife.

I can’t quite put my finger on where the responsibility lays with ‘This Means War’ – is it McG’s direction, the script by Timothy Dowling and Simon Kinberg, or the chemistry issues amongst the ledas – but what I can say is that it it’s a sum of all its parts.

From the standpoint of directing, McG is a filmmaker who has a reputation for focusing more on the visuals of a film rather than the quality of the story. Just take a look at Terminator: Salvation. His philosophy is to amaze the eyes, not the brain. ‘This Means War’ is a perfect example of that.

Meanwhile, our protagonists: Reese Witherspoon (Water for Elephants, How Do You Know, Four Christmases) comes to this film with her star dimmed. Her charisma and sensuality is obvious but it is completely lost here. The two leading men, Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Warrior, Inception) and Chris Pine (Star Trek, Unstoppable) are supposed to be best friends at odds, and even though their little game works, it’s not substantial enough to keep you tied to your chair.

The objective behind ‘This Means War’ is to entertain, and though some scenes do, one pays money to experience entertainment from beginning to end, not in doses. If so, than I’d rather pay to see the trailer which will give me all I want, no disappointments.

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