Well-acted, beautiful looking, self-enamoured film

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2015)

Lincoln is a beautifully acted, beautiful looking film about one of the most remarkable men of American history. Steven Spielberg continues to remind us why he is likely the greatest director of all time. Lincoln is visually beautiful, with costumes, production design and cinematography off the chart. With very little imagination, we are put inside the 19th century.
Daniel Day-Lewis turns in a typically stunning performance as he embodies the former President. Tommy Lee Jones is also sharp, witty and grouchy as Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Hal Holbrook, Lee Pace and David Straitharn also turn in great supporting roles.
However, not all the acting is able to hold up with Day-Lewis and co. At times the presence of high profile 21st century actors like James Spader and Joseph Gordon-Levitt can become distracting (even though their performances are fine), as there is not enough fake facial hair in the world to disguise them. Sally Field also hams it up and overacts as she tries to grasp at all possible screen time and remain relevant long past her prime.
Where the film suffers is its screenplay. The film is clearly more enamoured with its own words than we are, and we are subjected to long, dull monologues that bore and tire us. Even during the film's most enjoyable moments (the Congressional debates) little effort is made to examine the Democratic opposition to the 13th Amendment, preferring to serve up racial diatribe in order to saintify Stevens and Lincoln and demonise the others. With respect to Tony Kushner, but perhaps if the screenplay had been written by a less poetic and more political-savvy writer (a Sorkin or a Willimon or even a Clooney), Lincoln could have been something engrossing.