A great film sandwiched between two melodramatically awful scenes.

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2019)

Lincoln is probably Spielberg's best film of the new century, but he likes to remind us of his inability to avoid ghastly choices of adding manipulative melodrama. Lincoln is a film about The 13th Amendment, and when the film focuses on this, it's excellent. However, the film ends unnecessarily with Lincoln's death. It's a misstep that hurts an otherwise great film which began with an equally overwritten opening scene where two white soldiers attempt to rehash the Gettysburg Address, only to have it finished by a black soldier. Spielberg's weakness is becoming more evident, but at least his strengths rule supreme for most of this otherwise excellent film. It's filled with great performances by Daniel Day Lewis, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones and many more. An excellent procedural.