Historical films about historical figures need more than just facts from a history book!

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2014)

There is nothing more boring than watching a historical film that seems like it was made right out of a history book. In Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' we see the story of our 16th president Abraham Lincoln, as he fought hard to pass the 13th amendment to free the slaves. The main focus of the film is Lincoln's work towards giving freedom for every individual, and not all the stuff before hand like getting elected or raising a family. The film does get in touch with Lincoln's character and doesn't just show how he was stressed out all the time. We see Lincoln's family relationships, the congressmen who fought for and against slavery during the time when Lincoln was trying to abolish slavery, and we get to see what it was like when he was assassinated. Abraham Lincoln was an amazing man, just this film is so bland. Not a single strong message was made from this film and it literally felt like Steven Spielberg and his fellow producers said "hey! Let's make a movie about Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves!" Nothing creative was put into this film except the production design and costume design that made everything look freakishly in the 1800's. As for the acting, it's good but overdone. Daniel Day-Lewis looks identical to Lincoln, and gets the voice and walk down, but he gets bothersome and overacts and gets a little "look at me acting." As for Spielberg, he does a decent job of visualizing Lincoln's work but doesn't deliver his finest work. Historical pieces can be exceptional as long as they have original creativity to back it up and not make it feel like 8th grade history class all over again! Be creative!