Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan, Michael

I kinda wished this film cut lose more often. Timur Bekmambetov's visual style is always intriguing and his action sequences opulent and filled with wild abandon. Unfortunately we only get 2 big memorable sequences, and besides some fun but forgettable hand to hand fights throughout, the film feels bogged down by its historical surroundings. A shame, as those 2 sequences are pure joy, utterly ridiculous and completely enjoyable, like the rest of the film should have been,

Should I really complain about the lack of character emotional connectivity in a film called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? Well I think I have the right to. The script and the actors are all taking it very seriously and so shall I. Now obviously this makes the joke of the whole piece even more hilarious but it really does kill the fun vibe and without being acute enough to set up these characters for anything more than mere historical necessity, it really makes the whole affair rather empty.

I do love that they found a new use for 3D technology. When the vampires eyes glow as their blood-lust rises, a different opacity level is sent to each eye of the viewer creating a doubled holographic effect that one often sees as a mistake from the filtering of unpolarised light reflected at different angles from each camera. They use this mistake to a purpose here and it's actually really neat. Subtle enough that most viewers would only perceive something crazy different is going on with the vampires eyes as compared to the normal eyes. Now I can't be sure if this is a post-invention or a happy accident from on-set practical effects, eye contacts that reflect light differently. Either way. it was fun to see them using this unusual 3d phenomena to a purpose.

The 3d itself was fine however I take issue with the colour grading. I'm fine with the very stylised palette, I'm even fine with the radically incongruous two-stripe technicolor look for a brief flashback. But the whole film seems to have had a rather unpleasant digitally sharpened look that makes for some very digital looking photography, even lower res than what you'd expect. I don't know if that's an issue with the particular print we saw, an intentional look or something to do with the grading or the Arri Alexa they reportedly shot on. I've never seen footage from that camera look this much like DVC-PRO though.

The other thing that bothered me right from the get go is the over use of chromatic aberration on the edges of every frame. Sure it makes it  look like old lenses but I just couldn't stop noticing it. This though is most likely only going to be an issue for me, I doubt anyone else will be as enraged. It was just one of those things that once you noticed you couldn't stop looking at. They may have even used the 3d channels to generate some more extreme versions of this in close ups. It seemed to be the case. That old lens look coupled with the overly digitally sharpened look didn't do it for me. One or the other folks.

Unfortunately the cinema I saw this in had the sound unbearably low. The sound and music mix never pumped in the way I expect it was intended. What I did hear of the score didn't entice me much.

There are some good actors in this film. Good actors that Seth Grahame-Smith's script doesn't give anything much for them to do.

UNCREDITED ALAN TUDYK!

Also allow me to add my voice to the multitudes online expressing just how much Benjamin Walker looks like a young Liam Neeson. No surprise to see he actually played young Kinsey in the film of the same name. If Spielberg stuck to his original casting choice for his Lincoln biopic it could have been a confusing year.