Great Performances and Costumes

Rating: 6/10 (19 November 2012)

Lincoln (2012)
*** (out of 4)
Steven Spielberg's telling of the last four months in the life of Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) focuses on him trying to get the law passed to free the slaves. I will probably be in the minority on this one but while LINCOLN contains some brilliant acting, wonderful costume designs and there's no doubt that Spielberg nails the look of 1865, I still found this film to be somewhat of a disappointment. For starters, the film itself really isn't about Lincoln, although it certainly wants people to realize that he's just a good old boy who did great things. There's no question about that but we really don't get to learn too much about him because the main focus of the film is various people trying to free the slaves. That's the main focus of the film and I think at times this here really drags the film to a halt because of Spielberg's handling of it. There are many, many sequences that just drag on to the point where it really does seem like you're watching them in slow motion and it appears, to me anyways, that it's a director having issues with what to do with dialogue scenes. The majority of them really don't build anything except for some annoying cinematography that constantly has the camera swinging around. There are scenes with added bits of life and exciting, like the eventual vote, but these scenes are far between. Even scenes where we get to see Lincoln struggling with his troubled wife (Sally Field) are far more exciting. Still, the performances here are so great that it's impossible not to get something out of the film. Day-Lewis is almost ghostly in the way he can just float into this role and there is never a time where you feel like you're watching an actor. The actor makes you feel as if you're really watching the real Lincoln. Field is also good in her supporting bit as is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader and we get exceptionally strong work from David Strathairn and Tommy Lee Jones. The look of LINCOLN is also incredible and especially the terrific costume design and set design. Still, I was expecting a lot more from the film so while there's some great stuff, I still must say that I found it a bit disappointing.