Worst screenplay & poor direction imaginable

Rating: 3/10 (10 October 2015)

This movie has the most terrible screenplay I've ever seen. It is so badly written, it is physically painful to watch. It is so bad, I cannot think of another such bad film to compare it to. The movie scenes ramble aimlessly & disconnected without any direction or pattern.
Just because it was Spielberg does not make this a good movie. Everyone is afraid to tell him the truth. Don't get me wrong. I am a great fan of the long overdue 13th amendment to abolish slavery. I also like many of Spielberg's other films. But not this one. Too many people patronize Spielberg for his fame. Not the quality of his work or lack thereof.
This movie should have been named "The 13th Abolition". It certainly wasn't about Lincoln except for his efforts to get votes & some family moments intercut & at the end. I would much rather have seen the story of Lincoln's life & childhood & his political climb to the White House. And how their son had his mother committed to get her money. When she smuggled out a letter to the press, her son was found out & she was released. The public was incensed. This would be the story of Lincoln & family.
Not this 13th Amendment drumbeat which hops from random scene to scene without sensible direction or continuity. The beginning is so bad that few people are still watching after 20 minutes (or less).
Spielberg or not; this was a badly written, poorly directed inappropriately titled hodgepodge, migraine provoking excuse for a film; wasting a stellar cast. This should have been organized, directed & written differently to tell the 13th Amendment story. Lincoln's story should have been about Lincoln like Truman's film. The audience felt cheated. Lincoln & the 13th Amendment should have been 2 separate movies about 2 major events.
The real crime is the waste of such a cast of impressive actors. This is not a movie about Lincoln. It is a patchwork about the 13th amendment. There is no flow to the film. It is as if they filled a bucket with scene numbers & randomly pulled the scene numbers from the bucket & glued them together. There is no story. No continuity. No story about Lincoln or his presidency or his life. Although Lincoln's character appears, it is not about him. So this movie is misnamed. The scenes jump around disconnected. It is unwatchable to the point of making the viewer physically ill.
All they do is argue about how to get votes for the 13th Amendment. Nothing but arguing politicians & a vote gathering theme like "Legally Blond II". Or the political arguing of the first Constitutional convention.
Certainly not about Lincoln. This is an awful, unwatchable movie. I have never understood why people trash wonderful films (such as Independence Day) and praise truly rotten films like this. This is the worst screen writing & worst directing & worst editing & worst story I have ever seen.
If you want an excellent historical film, I recommend John Adams. Another excellent film on historical presidents was Truman. This movie was not about Lincoln as it should have been. They should have hired the crew of Truman to rewrite & redo a movie about Lincoln from scratch. Or given it to HB0 to redo.
The producers of this bad film must be hiring relatives of people associated with this film to stack the votes & stuff the comment boxes to create a false impression of this movie.
Regardless of these false votes & commentaries... Spielberg or not... It is Bad! Even the excellent actors could not rescue such bad writing & directing. There is no watchable story & certainly not about Lincoln. Just one random bad scene after another with babbling politicians & nonsensical scene jumping.
Don't waste your time.