Lincoln (2012)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  8 / 10

  Lincoln is a historical biopic on one of the greatest presidents of all time. We follow him as he attempts to convince a bitterly divided government to abolish slavery by signing the thirteenth amendment to the constitution. An important segment of American history that would not only influence millions of Americans, but the whole world as well. I do like a good historical drama, and with Steven Spielberg at the helm it just couldn't go wrong. Every shot is carefully crafted, from the war-ravaged battlegrounds to the darkly lit White House. He really took the time to flesh out our characters and highlight the importance of the film's plot, in which is arguably Lincoln's most influential decision before his assassination. This has one heck of a cast! Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Harris, James Spader...it just keeps going. The beauty of it is, that every single one of them brings their A-game and are all perfect in their roles. Of course though, our stand out performer is the one and only Mr Daniel Day-Lewis. I was absolutely transfixed by his transformative performance. It's that rare role where the actor physically and emotionally becomes the character, it legitimately felt like I was watching Abraham Lincoln. His physical prowess, his ability to steal every scene without overacting, his execution of the script by simply just talking to us and that accent...he was outstanding. We've seen many iterations and interpretations of Lincoln but none have the authenticity and physical embodiment to actually convince us, until now of course. Method acting always delivers the best results. Oh, the musical score was consistent as always with Spielberg flicks. This is a historical drama, so action and thrills are kept to a minimum (or in this case non-existent) so some may find this boring. The slow pacing for its long runtime doesn't help either but if you allow the script and acting to captivate you, then you are in for an excellent piece of cinema.

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