A Note on Abraham Lincoln, the film

I never do this, but I wanted to post a short comment here on the new adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.  I reviewed this book shortly after it came out; the book is GREAT.  It does a wonderful job putting history into a fun context; if you remove the vampire parts, you can actually LEARN about Lincoln, and the civil war, which as a history buff I love, and as an educator practically makes me swoon.  It's entertaining and adventurous and fun.  The film does a terrible job at showing off the novel's quirky side, and instead focuses on action scene after action scene, to the detriment of the plot.  Had I not read the book, I wonder if I would have had any idea what was actually going on; it was THAT choppy.  I was *shocked* that SGS was actually listed as a screenplay author, since it was so poorly done!  They must have offered him a TON of money to sell out his material like that.  The film doesn't emphasize what I think is the most interesting part of the alternative-fiction history, and what, I think, holds the entire plot of the novel together - that slavery was, yes, for the plantations, but secretly it was used to feed the vampires in the region, and as such was the political driver behind the civil war, and Lincoln's anti-slavery focus.  This was fascinating to me, and such a clever twist on the entire event, from the declaration of war to why Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation (when the war wasn't really about human rights, and the EP was issued late in the game) when he did, etc.  The cardinal sin, however, what that the film didn't use the original ending.  Good endings are hard to find, and ALVH had a PERFECT ending, excellently done, satisfying, and thought-provoking.  I was so excited to see it play out, after the debacle of the rest of the film; the dialogue between characters set it up, it was all ready to go.... and then it was the lamest, most stereotypical ending EVER that replaced it.  WTH?!  It was an OUTRAGE, just insulting.  This film took an intelligent book and eviscerated it.  The action scenes are fun, and some people in the theater with me who had not read the book thought it was good, but really what it was was a terrible, missed opportunity.  I almost don't know what to recommend here, because if you read the book, you'll be angry at the film.  If you see the film but don't read the book, you may enjoy the action, but be confused and lose out on everything that makes the story wonderful.  So, I guess I would say, read the book, and then watch the film if you want to see the fun action (the final scene on the train is cool, I have to admit), but have NO expectations of being satisfied intellectually while you're watching it.  In fact, maybe you can play a fun party game while you watch - Name The Missing Plot Pieces. 

Rating: 1.5 stars.  A travesty.