Just saw it tonight. Good fun. Silly and over the top, but fun.
[spoiler]VERY good sfx showing modern-day Washington, D.C. morphing into the city of Lincoln’s time. Also very good sfx of New Orleans in pre-Civil War steamboat days. The scene of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address was the best filmed version of it that I’ve ever seen - very well done.
The vampires were (mostly) evil and Lincoln was (mostly) pure of heart and had mad martial arts skillz.
Plot was OK. Casting was generally good, although the cute actress who played Mary Todd Lincoln looked nothing like the real thing.
Lincoln’s political career before the Presidency was covered in about half a minute, if that. Waaaay too glossed over. I’d like to have seen more on the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the 1860 Presidential campaign.
If you go by the movie, the Lincolns just had one son, Willie, not four.
The vampire plot was pretty well woven into actual history, to the extent it could be. The top vampire, Adam, is even shown meeting with Jefferson Davis! I knew the Confederacy was evil, but… wow! I was surprised, though, that John Wilkes Booth, vampire or otherwise, didn’t appear. We just see the President and Mrs. Lincoln riding off in a carriage to Ford’s Theatre, knowing what awaits them there.
I’m a huge Lincoln and Civil War buff, and it was actually a much more entertaining - although utterly, laughably ahistorical - movie than I expected.
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“You are using Bonetti’s defense against me, uh?”
“I thought it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.”
“Naturally, you must expect me to attack with Capo Ferro.”
“Naturally, but I find that Thibault cancels out Capo Ferro, don’t you?”
“Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa, which I have!”
Spinning the axe not only increased velocity, it also acted as a defense against unseen enemies coming from many different angles. You just can’t get at Abe Lincoln - that axe blade is everywhere!
Joshua Speed was also historical. As was Abe Lincoln with an axe - Republicans often brought rails or axes to political rallies to remind voters of his background.
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Joshua Speed was also historical.
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As was Mary having been romantically involved with future senator Stephen Douglas, later to become Lincoln’s debate opponent and rival for the presidency. (I mention this because somebody asked if she really dated him as she did in the movie.)
Most of the historical error whoppers didn’t bother me at all because it’s a popcorn movie, but the two that did irk me were Tom Lincoln dying before Abe was grown and Harriet Tubman in New Orleans.