Day Lewis is uncanny as Honest Abe and a must see for historic film buffs in Spielberg's epic tome poem.

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2012)

LINCOLN (2012) ***1/2 Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Jared Harris, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Joseph Cross, Lee Pace, Peter McRobbie, Gulliver McGrath, Gloria Reuben, Jeremy Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Boris McGiver, David Costabile, Stephen Spinella, Walton Goggins, Lukas Haas, S.Epatha Merkerson. Steven Spielberg's years-in-the- making-Herculean effort historical biopic focusing on President Abraham Lincoln's second term enmeshed in the bloodshed of The Civil War and his impassioned plea for getting the 13th Amendment passed by an impenetrable Congress while dealing with family issues and a war-torn nation is buoyed by an uncanny, low-key staid turn by Day Lewis who embodies the iconic presence and innate humanity to the 16th President of the United States with an undercurrent of humor, folksy wisdom and sharp, alacrity disarming his opponents with stealth élan. The film itself is a tad anemic and bloodless with one rival politician trying to top himself in the mandates at hand yet is timeless in depicting just that - the arrogance of governing bodies with a clean screenplay adaptation by Tony Kearns based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln"). Kudos to veteran composer John Williams' gently coaxed score, handsome cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and epic makeup effects in concocting Day Lewis as Honest Abe. Spielberg as always delivers the goods and while not a classic it is still a must see for historic buffs and those who still want to see democracy in action carried out for the better and common good.