Dull, wooden and disappointing.

Rating: 3/10 (23 February 2013)

After all the hype, I had expected something pretty special, but was hugely disappointed.
For me, any film about historical events needs to engage my interest either through bringing the characters to life in a sympathetic way, or by creating a web of suspense, despite my knowledge of the final outcome.
Sadly, Lincoln does not come close on either of these points. I found the characters lacking in any human appeal - I really had no sense of caring about the fate of any of them, and got no real insight into their characters. The dialogue was extraordinarily dull, and the acting was, frankly, very ordinary. On many occasions I felt as if I was watching a stage play from the local rep, with the actors hamming it up as much as possible.
It is as if there is a catalogue of events which needs to be included, and then a bit of dialogue has been added around that. At no stage did I feel any sense of excitement around how the (already known) outcome would be. I contrast that to a movie like "All the President's Men", which managed to develop fantastic suspense despite a well known result!
To me the most shocking thing is the way in which a poor move has, with the inclusion of some big names, a big budget an massive hype, been passed off as a great one. It is nothing of the sort!