Great film, except for that ending

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2019)

In this historical biopic directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, we follow a specific time during Abraham Lincoln's life, particularly the passing of the 13th Amendment which is the abolishment of slavery.
There are a lot of great things about this film, and what I'm going to praise first is the screenplay. Tony Kushner presents us a very dialogue driven story of the great President, which was a nice surprise. Nearly every scene, every conflict and argument is pushed forward by a lot of dialogue, and if you aren't on board with it from the beginning and cannot keep up with the politics, then this film isn't for you. I'll admit I myself couldn't always follow some of the dialogue, but still managed to be riveted by the performances that were speaking the dialogue, from Sally Field to Tommy Lee Jones and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, of course, as the Mr. President.
We already know Lewis is objectively speaking the greatest actor of all time, and he is fantastic as usual here. From his presence and command to the makeup on his face, Lewis completely DISAPPEARS in the role and plays a hero with vulnerability, conflicts to face, and an entire nation to run.
On the negative side, LINCOLN does suffer from a poorly executed ending, with Spielberg doing a dumb switcharoo, showing a stage performance at a theatre with a man coming in and yelling the President has died in the OTHER THEATRE, and then the film cuts to him on the bed as he dies. Rather than choosing to end the film before Lincoln's assassination or properly show it happening and developing it, Spielberg does neither.
Overall LINCOLN is not a film for everyone, but if you can sit through 2 1/2 hours of slow burn and lots of dialogues about politics, then you're in for a delightful treat.