The ALVH reviews and articles thread

[lassie]

I've been to see it

I think I have mentioned before - I wouldn't normally go see a vampire movie. After seeing the trailers I knew there would be lots of bloody violence, which there was, so I was prepared and I personally decided to see it as like comic book violence - so in the end I quite enjoyed all the gore and was pleased to see Abraham slash more than a view vampires ;D

I left reality in the foyer of the cinema and must say I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It had lots of emotion to it, even tenderness, which I was surprised to find! Visually it was impressive. The actors played their parts well. Rufus was awesome - loved the way he played Adam - full of menace and danger, but also with dignity - presidential!

I won't say too much as don't want to spoil it for y'all ;D

(Hubbie enjoyed it too, said he preferred it to the book.
He is doubtful that it will have a large UK audience, it being about Abraham Lincoln I don't think you have to be American to enjoy this film - I enjoyed it immensely )

[Petruchio - Good God]

spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2012/06/22/rufus-sewell-is-president-of-undead-in-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/

[Petruchio - Good God]

review of ALVH with new scenes... incl. Adam (1 min 30 ) for everyone who hasn't seen the movie yet...

www.richardroeper.com/reviews/abrahamlincolnvampirehunter.aspx

[rueful]

Thanks for sharing your review, Lassie! That's great that you were able to find a way to look past the gorier aspects! (That's a concern for me, I'm such a coward.) I'm glad to hear you and hubby enjoyed it.

Thanks for the interview/review links, PGG! It was nice to see something positive.

Loved that first interview. The interviewer also posted the following tweet: OF COURSE I gushed to Rufus Sewell about Dangerous Beauty and Twilight body sparkle. OF COURSE. Sounds like a fangirl to me! ;D

[GreenEyesToo]

Thanks for from me, too, Lassie, for telling us about your visit to see it - I like the way you approached it, must do that myself when I see it! ;D

That was a nice reviewer, PGG - thanks.

Jun 23, 2012 15:35:07 GMT rueful said:

It was nice to see something positive.

Yes, there have been a few less than kind ones, haven't there? I think this is going to be a love-it or hate-it kind of event.

I must admit to having some difficulty with the reviews that are around - partly because of the sheer number of them, but also trying to avoid spoilers. That "find" button is rather useful, though, for checking what they have to say about Rufus!

I've come across a couple of items, I like, one an interview, one a review:

The interview is refreshingingly different to some of those around, and I LOVE the firsr few lines ;D:

Sitting down with Rufus Sewell for a face-to-face interview is a disorienting experience, to say the least. First of all, it's difficult, if not damn near impossible, to not get distracted by those eyes. Secondly, it's easy to forget he's played a bad guy in so many films —including as the unrelenting vampire leader Adam in this weekend's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — after you've been introduced to his charming off-screen nature. (In fact, don't be surprised to hear him call you "darling" in that posh English accent.)


So it makes sense when you learn how Sewell decided to approach the role of Adam, a 3,000-year-old vampire who will stop at nothing or no one (not even one Abraham Lincoln, played here by Benjamin Walker) to ensure vampires take over the human race. During an interview with Hollywood.com, the actor explained that while the ruthless Adam is "a savage and a thug," he saw him as almost a political figure in his own right. A fellow charmer, if you will. Or as Sewell put it, "a vampire's vampire. Someone who didn’t kill unnecessarily and vulgarly, but if he needed to, he was your guy. He considered himself to be an equal to Abe, and Abe to be an equal to him, someone who could sit down and have a fireside chat about problems and come to some kind of agreement."


But even more than Adam's ability to, perhaps work a room, Sewell (pictured here in a scene with costar, model Erin Wasson) also considered the gravity of what it would be like to have a vampire's greatest gift and curse: eternal life. "I had to think about what the way you regard the machinations of human history and politics, and the fleetingness of human life. And that alone – the fleetingness of the human civilization, the span of that, which you’ve seen come and go, let alone an individual life, and how politic that would make you, in terms of your grand scheme," the 44-year-old said during our chat, "So I think he’s quite familiar with it, he’s quite wise, and he’s a pragmatist. As far as humans are concerned, he’s seen them come, he’s seen them go, and they’re all the same."


Pretty heavy for a movie called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, no? But in truth, Sewell's attitude about the film mirrored that of his director Timur Bekmambetov and his cast mates, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Anthony Mackie. That there's something deeper at the core of the movie — which Sewell described as " with some weird-looking extras" — than it's outrageous title would suggest. "There are things in this film that actually are quite educational. People will smirk, and I don’t care if they do. Because it’s a good smirk," Sewell told Hollywood.com, "There’s stuff that I didn’t know about Lincoln, that in order to tether it in any kind of believability, they’ve kind of really gone as accurate as they possibly could where they could in order to gain purchase on the truth to bounce into the air for these flights of fancy."


A graduate of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Sewell, who admitted he's become more of a history buff further in his career and revealed that he chose to altar his accent to give Adam the "twang" of an "early Hollywood, mid-Atlantic industrialist accent" almost missed out on the opportunity to be part of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter entirely.


"He didn’t come until later. The earlier scenes weren’t there either, so he just appeared halfway through the film, and then was involved in the fight," Sewell explained of Adam's place in Seth Grahame-Smith's screenplay. "And then, the offer kind of went away because they decided, in the politest of ways, that they’d maybe have a very much older actor play the part, but that was a different angle on it. But then they changed their mind again three weeks before filming, which was a bit of a scare, to get the visa in time. By the time the script came back, it was a much better role."


He continued, "And I kind of had the feelings that if the part had originally been that rich, there might have been other people interested in the role, it might have been more difficult for me to get it. So I kind of got in through the side door. Which, believe me, I’m quite happy to do. It’s my M.O. No, my M.O. is normally to be locked out of the house."


A jest, of course, as Sewell is anything but "locked out" these days. The actor recently wrapped a few projects, including the British gangster film All Things To All Men with Gabriel Byrne, the mystery-drama I'll Follow You Down with Haley Joel Osment, and an indie called Amal. In addition to all that, Sewell will also start work on a film for the BBC, titled Restless. "I'm rarely this busy, so I'm smug," he joked.


Of course, no matter how charming or no matter how much impressive work he produces (the thespian has a resume that boasts films like Dark City and The Illusionist and TV miniseries such as The Pillars of the Earth and John Adams) Sewell may never be able to shake the one thing so many people associate him with: the bloke who broke Kate Winslet's heart in the 2006 romantic comedy The Holiday.


"People often go 'Are you in that film?' and I’m often the one who has to point out, 'Yes, I was the d***head.' People say, 'I love that film!' and I say, 'Yeah, but you didn’t love me in it!'," Sewell said, "I think the scorn that I will receive for trying to kill Abraham Lincoln is nothing...nothing to what I get for having treated [Kate Winslet] bad."

www.hollywood.com/news/Abraham_Lincoln_Vampire_Hunter_Star_Rufus_Sewell/31582323


And the review says some nice things about him:

The cast is a mixed bag, but contains at least one inspired choice. Benjamin Walker’s Lincoln does not exactly radiate presidential gravitas, his voice neither squeaky nor resonant. But his awkwardness and bewilderment as the young Lincoln plays well with what amounts to an episode of presidential Karate Kid, and the stoic tone he takes on when he becomes President makes him a natural straight man. Which isn’t to say the script doesn’t evoke laughter. How else could an audience respond to a scene in which Abraham confesses to Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) that he hunts vampires? Or when vampire leader Adam (Rufus Sewell) meets with Jefferson Davis? The brooding Sewell is the casting coup here. I would never have thought to make this distinguished British actor into a Southern Gothic dandy with fangs, but he has the presence to pull it off.


The complete review is here: dcist.com/2012/06/out_of_frame_abraham_lincoln_vampir.php

[megagem]

I can now safely say I am a Rufus-on-the-big-screen virgin no longer (and it's about time, too!)
I went with a friend this morning to see it. She knows of Rufus, she's seen a couple of his films, and I gave her a huge passion-filled speech on how the majority only really remember him from his villain roles and how he has loads of good-guy roles (and even showed her clips of some), so she was given somewhat of an education beforehand. We saw it in 2D as I have issues with watching 3D stuff. I have to wear my regular glasses to see even a screen that big, so when watching 3D I have my glasses AND 3D glasses on and I have a very small nose so the 3D glasses are always just barely balancing. And, to be honest, I find 3D to be ridiculous in non-animated films. There was only one showing of the 2D version and it was at 11:30 this morning.
We both LOVED it!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't quite sure how to imagine how Adam would be. I'd heard about the whole Clark Gable comparison and how he is meant to be a sophisticated yet lethal character, but I still couldn't quite get a full idea without giving him dandy-ish qualities. He is PERFECT as Adam. That calm, collected, authoritative, gentle murmur of a voice is just and how he carries himself so elegantly and with dignity yet there's still that sense of "you should be afraid of me". He's a delicious character in every way and I now see the attraction of the role. I know we on the Rooftop have a tendency to say (with 100% honesty, of course) that we could never see another actor instead of Rufus playing a Rufus role. To be honest, I could see many actors being drawn to this role, but I think only a tiny portion of them could have done as good a job. There is a way Rufus carries the role as I said before, so calmly and so distinguished but that could easily have been portrayed as arrogance. With Rufus playing him, there was no arrogance. There was true determined confidence. I feel like with some other actors, he would've been portrayed as an all-out, verbal, I'm-going-to-take-over-the-world, maniacal, over-the-top dark character. With Rufus, it's all about subtlety and patience, and gentle persuasion and deep-seeded silent, yet vocal confidence. That darkness is definitely present in Rufus' interpretation, but it's an attractive darkness a la Eric Stark. He knows what he wants, and he knows he's going to get it one way or another, but it's not annoying. It's sexy. SO sexy There was a moment where the photos of the main vampires were shown (the scene where Adam takes off his glasses). I could watch him do that all day. I heard my friend say "oooh" and I said "He is so HOT." Which you all know to be true ;D .
He appeared a lot earlier than I thought he would so that was a lovely surprise ;D and although I also agree with some of the other ladies that he wasn't in it as much as I had expected, I like how his scenes were sprinkled throughout. You never really knew when a scene would cut to him. There was even a moment where a hand was shown on a coffin and I said to my friend "here he is again!" and when the camera showed his face she said "How did you know?" I just smiled and said "I would honestly know those hands anywhere. Even when they're gloved." There weren't many long gaps between scenes (going from the vampires to Lincoln & Co.) and Rufus stole every scene he was in, there's no doubt about that.
I was surprised at how quickly I got caught up in the story and how many of the characters I ended up liking. I was really hoping Rufus wasn't going to be the only one worth watching (as he usually is) and thankfully I liked all the actors' performances. I really enjoyed Dominic Cooper's performance. I've only seen him in "The Duchess" and "An Education" until now, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I really got into his character's story. I really liked Anthony Mackie and Marton Csokas (He did a fantastic job as Jim Barts. He immediately caught my attention and gave me the creeps) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead was so sweet and I really enjoyed her scenes with Benjamin Walker. I was impressed by his performance too.
Now, it wasn't until a few minutes in that I realized I knew the man who played Joshua Speed and I couldn't remember for the life of me who he was. I knew his face and I wondered if there was a possibility that I owned something with him in it. The more I thought about it, the more I could see him in a small role and I remembered his face being wet or his eyes being bleary and it drove me nuts. Later I went straight onto IMDb and found out it's Jimmi Simpson, aka Will Sanders from the first episode of Eleventh Hour!
There was a fair amount of blood, however, it was only slightly graphic. It wasn't half as gory as I thought it would be, so, I don't really think any of you have anything to worry about. Most of the violence happens during an action scene and they go by so quickly, that I personally didn't notice that heads were leaving bodies and chopping off their heads isn't the only way some of the vampires are done in, so keep that in mind. I get really queasy when watching certain films and I hardly flinched watching this because I got into the story. One other thing I was very happy about to are that there aren't too many jump-scare scenes. One we already know about from the trailer and I think a fair amount of warning is given to the audience before someone with long fangs decides to pop up.
I can't decide which is my favourite scene. But my favourite quotes were definitely "Welcome to the family" ;D and "This war ends today, and with it, our millennia of darkness." He sounded just like Jacob
All in all, I thought it was very well acted, very well scripted, and Adam was scrumptiously bad. In the absolute best of ways. Well done, Rufus!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited to add: I completely forgot to mention the train scene where p.o.'d Adam kicks something down (I won't say what) while he stomps towards Abe. No words, just

Yet again edited to add: I've just looked up Marton Csokas's work and he played Septimus in the 1997 performance of Arcadia! How cool is that??

[kernowsqueen]

Brilliantly put Megagem!

This film was far funnier than I expected and I was delightfully surprised by how long Rufus was on the screen! I dreaded that he would only be in a few Gothic shots - but he appeared to be in a number more scenes including in both a ball in which Abraham and his future wife Many Todd start courting and I think at their wedding reception...not certain about that... (he tends to dazzle the eyes! )
I found his mid atlantic accent a wee bit annoying (sorry RS sisters - I am one of the few here who has not yet seen '11th Hour') but he was delightfully sexy and without giving out any character spoilers - a flash back sequence detailing the creation of another vampire just screamed Dangerous Beauty late 16th century goodness! Damn - he only gets better!

Could anyone else have played this part? I can think of another fan girl crush of mine who could have done it justice but he was too busy when this was filmed.
But really why worry -- our lovely Rufus was fang tastic in the part. ;D

Someday my two crushes ought to be in a movie together - not only are they both Hot Hot HOT but theyre both brilliant actors who are not really appreciated enough! My other crush is Mads Mikkelsen - a wonderful Danish actor. We need someone to write a wacky screwball comedy - both Mads and Rufus have this great sense of humor that would be so splendid if utilized on screen!

Anglophile darling ... are you listening?

[GreenEyesToo]

Thank you for your reviews, ladies!

I winced when I read this review, I really did - the reviewer clearly hates the film and the only reason I'm even mentioning it is the one lovely comment about Rufus (so I'm not going to call Richard Lawson rude names after all! ):

It's a waste of everyone's time and talent (if you saw Rufus Sewell in Tom Stoppard's Rock and Roll, you know what exquisite artistry he is capable of)

www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/06/we-need-hero-brave-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/53835/

Other than that, OUCH! This film really is polarising opinion.

[judypatooty]

Polarising indeed. Just pop over to www.rottentomatoes.com and see the split between how the critics liked it (only 39%) and the general public (75%). As usual, Rufus still usually gets a good mention even if the film as a whole doesn't.

[kernowsqueen]

Jun 24, 2012 11:01:38 GMT GreenEyesToo said:

Thank you for your reviews, ladies!

I winced when I read this review, I really did - the reviewer clearly hates the film and the only reason I'm even mentioning it is the one lovely comment about Rufus (so I'm not going to call Richard Lawson rude names after all! ):

It's a waste of everyone's time and talent (if you saw Rufus Sewell in Tom Stoppard's Rock and Roll, you know what exquisite artistry he is capable of)


www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/06/we-need-hero-brave-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/53835/

Other than that, OUCH! This film really is polarising opinion.

GET

Well it's tart but true to a point ...This is a summer blockbuster and I feel certain its not likely to be nominated for any awards unless MTV wants to include it on their list...

A day after the film, I will agree with the reviewer that it was often wild and somewhat inconsistent. I actually woke up this morning wishing than the author of the book (which I admit I have not read - would have added more comedy to the script) and the more outrageous that you make this kind of story the wittier it and more charming it can become - within reason. I must assume that this critic, like many but not all American critics, are perhaps too parochially enamored of A L to let go and enjoy the film...

'Belching? Schlockmaster?' Completely uncalled for! Watch 'Day Watch' and 'Night Watch' two brilliant Russian films on magic (sort of HP for Adults) and you will see that the critic is being completely unjust in these remarks!

Still yes the comment about Rufus' remarkable skills is the truest insight in this review.

sorry.... kq 's rant is ending now.

[rueful]

Meg, thanks for your wonderful, detailed review!

KQ, your review was, to borrow your pun , fang-tastic too!

I also prefer Rufus's Brit accent to his American one, but I can understand why he thought it necessary, so people weren't questioning, "Why is he English?" In interviews (about Adam and in the past about other roles) he's mentioned how an actor might pick some kind of accent or character trait, and then whatever scene that explains the choice is cut from the final film, and the actor looks foolish. (Does anyone remember--was he specifically talking about Hamilton? I know that part was cut a lot.)

GE2, thanks for the interviews and reviews! Love that Hollywood.com interview!

Judy, thanks for the link. I thought the big difference between critics' and viewers' responses were interesting too. Many of the critics seem to be pouring unjustified amounts of hatred out, and it kind of makes you wonder why. On the other hand, it occured to me that "regular people" who would be inclined to hate it probably wouldn't bother going in the first place, so maybe that's partially why the general public has a much higher rating--it was a self-selected audience of action/horror fans.

Here's another chance for you tweeters:


Young Hollywoodþ
@younghollywood

RUFUS SEWELL will be in-studio tomorrow to chat with @nikkinovak about @abethehunter! Send us your questions for #RufusSewell!

[judypatooty]

Well, I went to see ALVH today ... And to be blunt, I didn't like it that much. But that's mostly because I really don't like action/superhero movies.

Cons: The film was pretty slow to get going and felt kind of disjointed at times.

Pros: The 3D effects were great! Very effectively used. If you like extraordinary special effects and huge, splashy chase sequences, you'll gobble this film right up.

Of course the biggest "pro" is Rufus. He was amazing in his role. As others have said, he just became Adam. You totally believed he was this powerful, old, old, old vampire. Oh, and he looked sexy, sexy, sexy (at least until he turned monstrous!)

[joyceinva]

I went this afternoon and have to say that I liked the movie very much - would have liked it even if Rufus wasn't in it. It was a much slower movie than I was expecting - the action sequences were flashy but they weren't the whole point of the movie. And it was not as gory as I thought it would be from the trailers. And I don't do gore so if it didn't bother me, the rest of you should be ok. I actually thought the movie was pretty faithful to the book which isn't surprising considering that Seth Graham-Smith was the screenwriter. And as I thought the book was excellent I had no complaints.

I thought that Benjamin Walker was the weakest of the cast - not that he wasn't ok, but the others gave such strong performances. I especially liked Dominic Cooper. His Henry was a very human vampire. His scenes with Walker, when he's talking about what he lost when he became a vampire were well done. Oh, and Meg, thank you for pointing out who Speed was! I spent the whole movie trying to figure out who he was. Yes, he was Will from Resurrection!

Rufus, of course, was excellent - his Adam was elegant, lethal, and very, very, sexy. Loved his costumes, his hair, and his voice. In the train scene, when he comes out of the fire bellowing "Mr. President, this ends TONIGHT," I got chills. Great moment, but then Rufus is great in "yelling" scenes.

I'm not surprised the critics don't like it. Half of them are offended that Lincoln isn't being treated like a deity. The other half are offended that it's not a action/comedy. But the book is played straight and the movie followed suit. As Rufus said in that interview - "It's a bio-pic with weird extras."

[kissmekate]

Oh, PGG, I loved that first interview you posted. Looks like the interviewer had a wonderful time doing it (yes, she did sound so wonderfully fangirl-y!) The "sick fox" line made me laugh, and I love his asides at the "sparkly" teenage vampire trend ;D And no, Rufus, your eyes are not weird, they're beautiful

Thanks for your reviews and opinions, ladies. I so want to see that movie NOW (and in the original version, too!) Well, only five weeks to go until it starts here

rueful said:

In interviews (about Adam and in the past about other roles) he's mentioned how an actor might pick some kind of accent or character trait, and then whatever scene that explains the choice is cut from the final film, and the actor looks foolish. (Does anyone remember--was he specifically talking about Hamilton? I know that part was cut a lot.)

Rai once mentioned they'd cut his "I'm from Maine" line in IASL, so he ended up having to change Mick's accent to something less specific.

[robela]

Thanks for all the fab interviews and reviews posted above ladies.
Not had time yet to read and watch them all in depth but will be back to do so.

I saw the film last friday evening and like Judy, didn't like it very much. I loved Rufus as Adam of course he played a brilliant part and I also thought all the other actors were very good, especially Benjamin Walker who I thought did a brilliant job as Abraham Lincoln. My problem was the book (which was brilliant) being transferred onto the screen. It just lost something, which I know does happen a lot. Like Judy, I thought the film was disjointed and for me it would have been hard to understand the actual story if I hadn't read the book.

It is not really my type of film, but I do want to see it again in 2D if possible, as I didn't really like wearing the 3D glasses and they took quite a while to adjust to. I want to concentrate on Rufus' part of Adam. I did notice that some of his lines, which we have seen on videos were not included. So some of the film has been cut, which has probably added to the disjointedness.

I am reserving judgement until I have seen it again, but I don't think it will inspire British audiences. There were only about 10 people at most in the cinema when we watched it at 8.20 showing on a Friday evening, and when enquiring to other people who have seen it they also said the cinemas were virtually empty.