Lincoln Movie Review

Lincoln: Sitting through Spielberg’s latest film brought me back to my days at Nazareth Academy – sitting in Mr. Jaglin’s History class, shooting spit balls over at Tim Allison. While this film is an amazing accomplishment from a historical point of view, I did not find it all that entertaining. Daniel Day Lewis does a phenomenal job as old Abe, he will no doubt receive his 5^th Oscar nomination for this performance.  He is not the only star in this film either. In fact every role seemed to have a big name behind it. Sally Fields shined as his wife Mary Todd.  Tommy Lee Jones meanwhile knocks it out of the park as Representative Thaddeus Stevens.  I felt his performance was on par with that of DDLs and his character is just as important to the story.  David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, and John Hawkes are all wonderful in their small roles as well. The story is not that of Lincoln’s life, but of the 3 weeks leading up to the passing of the 13^th amendment to abolish slavery. Much of the drama takes place inside the House of Representatives as they argue over the amendment.  The film’s biggest fault is that is does not take us out of the Washington gridlock to show us the current state of the Union and the impact the amendment will have. While I enjoyed the history refresher I cannot say this is one of the best movies of the year.  I would actually say skip it in the theater and see it on DVD some lazy Sunday.

Rythemovieguy's Grade: 2.75 Jaws / B-

If this movie had parents they would be: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter & Mr. Smith Goes to Washington