Abraham Lincoln is generally considered one of the greatest
Presidents we’ve ever had. One does wonder, then, why Steven Spielberg’s new
film, aptly titled Lincoln, is the
first film about Abraham Lincoln released in my lifetime. Not that I’m
complaining, as Lincoln is carried by
fantastic performances, a solid script, and the best John Williams score in a
decade.
The film follows Abraham Lincoln and his struggles to get
the Thirteenth Amendment ratified. He enlists the help of several men,
including Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) to make this happen. Meanwhile,
his son, Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), wants to enlist against his mother’s
(Sally Field) will, but Abraham cannot intervene, as the Thirteenth Amendment
requires all of his attention.
Lincoln has a
surprising amount of humor. Stevens has a number of funny lines as the leading
representative for the Amendment. Lincoln has an amusing running gag with his
stories, and the biggest touch Spielberg has on the film is its humor. Lincoln’s
youngest son is also quite amusing.
Steven Spielberg directs the film with gusto, making it his
best film since 2002’s Catch Me If You
Can. Comparing to recent Spielberg films, it proves much, much better than last
year’s Spielberg films, The Adventures of
Tintin and War Horse. However, Tintin had an issue with characters, as
none of the characters were very well-developed, while Horse was far too sentimental for a film about World War I. Lincoln drops most sentimentality along
with having very well-developed characters.
Lincoln is very well-acted, including the impressive performances of Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, and, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis. The film is well-written, with a nice score, with good direction. However, the family subplot does hurt the movie a bit; but overall, Lincoln is a fascinating look at politics and our sixteenth president. Lincoln is directed by Steven Spielberg, distributed by DreamWorks Studios and Touchstone Pictures, and is rated PG -13 for an intense scene of war violence, some images of carnage, and brief strong language.
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