Lincoln
Release Date: November 16, 2012
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn
Runtime: 149 min
Lincoln is a film that is much easier to respect or admire, than it is to enjoy and be thoroughly entertained. While it does have sparks of humour here and there, it goes more for fascination than anything else. Speaking of the humour, it is quite impressive that the writers threw that in because of the serious subject matter. Lincoln follows Abraham Lincoln’s endeavours, during the American Civil War, to pass a constitutional Amendment to free the slaves. The performance by the great Daniel Day-Lewis adds layers to Lincoln. His reserved and kind voice makes him seem quite real – and he is. The relationships he has with everyone are all very kind, and he even treats his enemies with respect. He’s the sort of guy one would want as a neighbour, or maybe even the president of the United States of America. Oh wait, he was.
The cast is great (especially Day-Lewis, Fields, Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the cinematography is great, just about everything that is done here is impressive. Steven Spielberg feels like a director, at this time that is not interested in directing blockbusters like Jaws or Jurassic Park, but ambitious biographies like this. With past works like War Horse, Schindler’s List, or Munich, it is evident that he [Spielberg] possesses a flaring interest for history. Though, those audience members who don’t share at least a small interest for history, may not like this all that much. It is impressive, but at times it is difficult to grasp the events that are unfolding. In that way, it’s a film better watched in a home setting – so one could pause the film after most scenes, and absorb and make sure they can comprehend the information that was just told to them. Monologue after intelligent monologue just gets packed on, and sometimes they can be hard to follow. There’s a bunch of movie buffs out there, but there may not be as many history buffs. That’s why this is quite the impressive achievement that shall be an Oscar front-runner, but it simply may not be the right choice for a casual moviegoer. Make sure your mind is fresh before you see it, and be open to having two and a half hours of information intricately thrown your way.
80/100
Great review Daniel. It’s long, but it’s filled with so much energy and excitement that I couldn’t help but feel intrigued the whole time. Great ensemble, that just goes to show you how many people still want to work with Spielberg no matter what.
Thanks! Yeah, I agree, it was all pretty interesting! Spielberg seems great to work with haha 🙂
We agree on just about every point, and the overall score. We’re obviously correct 🙂
Hahah, obviously 😀
Day Lewis can be a superb impressionist,
if not an actor of character development and depth.
Even he can’t get beyond the make up in this
—6th?–7th? Lncoln retread.
Surely the ONLY relevant aspect of Lincoln
yet to be examined, or even mentioned by Hollywood,
was his quite possibly —FATAL– diss of the
Global USURY banking syndicate.
CHEKC OUT ‘Money Masters’ documentary online.
22 MILLION already have.
Then see what you make of this latest PC moral
alibi for things unfolding.
I’ll probably give that a watch later!
I had a similar reaction to yours – easier to admire than enjoy. For the most part I agree with everything you mention. The cast is great but Joseph Gordon-Levitt alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones? He just wasn’t up to their level and stuck out. That part should’ve been played by a more unknown actor.
Yeah I agree with that, I don’t have any complaints about him being in it – but a more unknown actor could have worked better.