Enjoyable, but not perfect

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2012)

they changed and skipped a lot from the book and there were more things i wish they had added - Lincoln's mother and his step mother were very important figures in his life and they did gloss over the early years very quickly - to me, the beginning of the movie was the weakest, slowest part and it didn't really get going for me until he established himself in Springfield. I thought it picked up a good amount once he got into politics and was a pretty good movie from there.
The movie looked really good from a historical perspective - the scenery was nicely done for the most part - the look of the major historical figures was pretty accurate with the notable exception of Mary Todd - who was way too pretty and thin - but a really good actress. In real life Lincoln didn't marry her for her looks anyway - he married her because of her position and the status he would gain from their union.
I really liked all the major characters - the acting went really well for the most part. I liked the musical score, but some of the (mostly early) action scenes were a bit over the top - and there was one sequence I highly doubt even Jackie Chan could have pulled off. But i guess everyone in the 1800's was a circus performer One thing that really got me after a bit was that the director is a big fan of slowing down the action so you can see how spiffy every stunt looks in slow motion. That kind of got old, but it was nice in some spots - just overused.
I thought it was entertaining once you got over the really weak beginning, but yeah it skipped too many events and had problems.
7-7.5/10 is the range I would give it.