Lincoln

Lincoln

November 23, 2012

4 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

3.5 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my own personal entertainment

My Suggestion:  DVD

The gist:  This is the story of President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.  He is caught between trying to negotiate a peace agreement to end the war and trying to pass a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.  He is torn between the two as he knows it is an impossibility to have both. 

My take:

I want to start off talking about my favorite part of this film and that was the acting.  I am guessing there will be at least 3 Oscar nominations for Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field who were all incredible.  Daniel Day-Lewis portrays Abraham Lincoln as a shrewd leader full of charisma.  I enjoyed his performance a lot but not as much as I enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens.  I found myself smiling every time Jones’ character was on screen.  He embodies grumpy old man and it really works.  Sally Field was inspired as Mary Lincoln and her performance brought a real truthfulness to the movie.  There were several other notable performances including:  David Strathairn as William Seward and Joseph Gordon Levitt as Robert Lincoln and Gulliver McGrath as Tad Lincoln.  All gave great performances.

I enjoyed the character building in the first half of the film, we really got to know all the main players and their loyalties.  I was enjoying the performances so much but then something happened about an hour and a half into the film, it started to drag on and on.  Okay we get it, Lincoln is witty and full of personality and stories.  He is a genuinely good person with a true passion for the country.  We didn’t need 150 minutes to figure that out.  I love Stephen Spielberg, but what is it with the 2 ½ hour movies??  The movie centers around the civil war, but we didn’t see any war.  In my opinion a little action may have saved this film.  If you are someone who enjoys action movies, this film may not be for you.  If you like long, drawn out period pieces…..go for it!  In my opinion the acting was superb but the film was lacking something important.