Spielberg's dream come true.....?

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2013)

One of Spielberg's ultimate dreams was to be able to make a Lincoln film. And after over a decade of speculation, we finally see the master director's vision come true---albeit in a manner we didn't really expect. While the film focuses mainly on Lincoln it narrows the structure down to his final months of the presidency and his life. Instead of the log cabin child to lawyer to president timeline, we get the end of war to 13th amendment timeline. But although it is masterfully acted and directed, it's a tough pill to swallow because of the length and because of its focus on the bare-knuckle politics of the time period.
To keep it simple: if you dislike politics this will not be your cup of tea.
This film however isn't without its assortment of strengths. For starters, let's please give the Oscars to Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, because they did phenomenal in their perspective roles. The rest of the cast did outstanding, ranging from Sally Field to James Spader to Hal Holbrook. Arguably the best ensemble cast within the past year, Lincoln is a movie that could have posed as a Broadway show because it was the acting that stole the show and maintained the film.
However I can almost bet you anything that Steven Spielberg would have preferred a superior script that focused much more on Lincoln's life and less on the politics surrounding it. Nonetheless, he did a grand job with the script on the table and doesn't overdue or overblow the film with an abundance of style. It was framed like a high-budget play, and was paced like one. And this is where the audience can become alienated; in terms of content politics covets about eight-tenths of the movie.
And this is where the film becomes to unravel mildly. If Lincoln had found a good balance between the president's personal life, political life, and life dealing with the war, we would have had ourselves a loaded movie that will push for the Best Picture prize. Instead, we have a movie that doubles-down heavily on politics and the maneuvers done to accomplish what Lincoln set out to do---while sacrificing a few key moments in the president's life. The ending in particular comes off as awkward because of the clunky catharsis and unique editing choices.
After a slow start and a grand second act, Lincoln winds up mere inches from becoming one of the better movies of 2012 because it stumbles towards the end. Great performances and simplistically quality directing was marred by questionable editing choices and a final act that couldn't decide what ending to choose from. This most likely isn't the Lincoln film Spielberg wanted, but nearly crafted a diamond out of coal.
A few Oscars are in place here, but Best Picture isn't one of them. Nonetheless, it's still an entertaining political drama that is sure to cement Day-Lewis and Spielberg as among the best in their proper craft.