Honest man...maybe. Honest title...not so much.

Rating: 5/10 (10 November 2013)

I remember reading somewhere that DD Lewis was going to play Lincoln in a Steven Spielberg film and thinking that's gonna be fu(kin awesome, can't wait!!! So I saw it and I had heard it was a lil slow but I'm cool with that if the movie has good writing and creates characters that are well developed and relatable, unfortunately I didn't find that to be the case in this film and I was expecting it to be more about... well Lincoln and not so much about the 13th amendment which was really all that went on in this movie. The acting was really very good and I enjoyed seeing some of these actors transform themselves in ways that I hadn't seen before (like a fat James Spader-awesome). The choice of what was left out of the film (like the signing of surrender by general Lee and the assassination to name a few) just ruined many good opportunities for dramatic excellence and left the movie feeling flat in my opinion. Also there just seemed to be some scenes where characters didn't feel like themselves or there was enough leading up to those scenes to explain things. The movie drags on for 2 hours and 15 minutes and then all of a sudden it drags itself off a cliff and ends without any pay off which kinda pis-sed me off. I realize Spielberg was trying to be respectful of Lincoln by not showing the assassination (or not giving Booth any screen time maybe)and jumping to his dying last minute (actually last second really) and I'm not suggesting that they should have shown Abe's brains splattered all over Mary Todd's pretty dress but I think most of us would agree that that there was a missed opportunity for some suspense. And we were robbed of many of the characters reactions to his death which I think could have helped give this film something. I think there are a lot of Hollywood types who are sayin' they like this movie, as well as a few people you probably know personally too. I just wonder if they felt pressure to do so. because of all the big name actors and the fact that Spielberg directed it. I think some people may feel like they will look stupid or unappreciative of good cinema if they don't say it was amazing but I don't know if they would pass a polygraph test if ya catch my drift. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i just didn't this film to be all That beautiful overall. Maybe you will though. It's worth a viewing to form your own opinion that's for sure.