As usual Steve is lost in his own world...and unfortunately takes a lot of great actors along for the ride

Rating: 4/10 (22 June 2013)

I admit I am one of relatively few moviegoers who believes Steve checked out shortly after ET, but I really expected he would at least turn in something passable with "Lincoln" --- I mean really, with a subject like this how can you screw it up? Turns out, quite easily, when you completely ignore the subject.
As soon as the title card vanishes you are dropped right in the middle of the Civil War, and even deeper into the internal struggles of getting the 13th amendment passed. Even with Daniel Day-Lewis' incredibly absorbing performance --- he hypnotizes with his intensity every second he's allowed to take center stage (which isn't often) --- we're down into the infighting, the excruciatingly long oratories and debates that are more about the political roadblocks and hedges of getting a piece of legislation passed than revealing much of anything about Lincoln's motivations, history, and state of mind.
Day-Lewis gets no help from Tony Kushner's self-aggrandizing, smug, boring script. Hiring Kushner was a huge mistake. In all his works his scripts are about passionately making a point, usually at the expense of the point itself (the wildly overrated and shamelessly pandering "Angels in America" says this best). And Kushner's verbal diarrhea does some very big damage in robbing us of any of the pleasures a blockbuster can give us: great sets, location shots, historical intricacies...you name it, since most of the show is all long-winded diatribes you're rarely if ever treated to any set outside a Washington great room.
Go in expecting a rich portrait of one of the most vivid and impactful presidents and you'll go away sadly disappointed. It's about as exciting as watching an afternoon of C-Span.
But why should I have been surprised? Steven has been going for the safe middling formula for some time now. Figure out what makes folks feel good, nod their heads and smile...and give them only that.
What a bore.