A greatly told story, of the story told the most frequently in American History

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2013)

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln consists of a unique quality, in that you know the outcome of the film before you even pull the handle of the door to the cinema screen the film is playing in, and yet the filmmakers still manage to keep the audience engaged, enthused and frequently amused. Just as scholars have praised Abraham Lincoln's political leadership as the key factor in accomplishing abolition, this 21st century film adaptation of the same man's life is primarily accomplished by the strong performance by Daniel-Day Lewis, in addition to an absolutely impeccable supporting cast.
The first half is certainly not without its dull moments, though it is difficult to argue that the 150 minute feature-length needed to be shortened, due to the fact that every second of Lincoln is relevant, important and well-paced. Furthermore, the historical epic has been so incredibly produced and cared for that the film has a particular power of you; it grips the audience and transports each cinemagoer back to the 19th century, and you feel inferior and helpless to the situation that these historical figures must deal with. The climactic scene is the greatest example of this. Everything the film has led up to, everything these people have worked for (or against) and the defining moment in the political career and life of Abraham Lincoln is presented, edited and felt as nothing else but masterful. The only sound that can be heard in the theatre is the clasping together of hands in hope that history will translate to the outcome of the film. Of course, you know it will and yet the intensity that the writer, director, editor, actors and more create is of astounding cinematic quality.
To attempt to articulate the sublimely outstanding acting performances throughout Lincoln would result in failure to accommodate those words with justice. Though now I feel the irony as I have very briefly attempted to do so. Though some cast members protrude more than others, not one role or performance can even be considered faintly weak or unconvincing. Subjectively speaking (as all reviews do), Tommy Lee Jones' phenomenal portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens is the greatest and most intriguing to have the privilege of witnessing, not just in this Spielberg epic, but in recent cinematic history. From his inception on the screen, you just continue to wish for him to reappear again in the next scene, and in the scenes he does, his superior feat as an actor, almost makes the others around him languish, though they most certainly do not.
Lincoln is most definitely not the most entertaining of films, but it has no intention to be. On storytelling techniques alone, it reaches for the highest of quality while grabbing the audience and making us vulnerable to the powerful nature of the drama.