Movie Review : Lincoln

The film focuses on the last four months of Lincoln's life. The story here is how Lincoln beginning his second term in office is in the middle of the Civil War and is trying to push an amendment through Congress to abolish slavery which the Democrats do not want to happen and the Republicans want but don't think it can happen due to they need at least 13 Democrats to flip and support the bill. Interesting how in current time that the Democrats who are supposedly the party of the people always forget that they didn't want slavery to end but say Republicans are the racists people. I will resist from getting too political here.

Daniel Day Lewis is Lincoln and as in most previous films he just dives into his role and disappears and he does that here as well. Sally Field is his wife who should be admitted into a mental institution but Abe holds out hope for his spouse. The movie is pretty straightforward as Abe and his party go about making sure his people support the vote and trying to persuade at least 13 Democrats to flip to their side. All this with the Civil War swiftly coming to a close which Abe has to balance that and the bill as if the war ends he knows he won't be able to get the bill past but if it appears he is holding up the war to get one of his objectives done he will come across as the bad guy. We all know how this ends up as our daily lives reflect what the result was back then.

Verdict : Steven Spielberg is the director, Daniel Day Lewis plays a historical hero, Sally Field is an unbalanced wife. All this together and you would think can't miss picture. I thought so and fed into the hype and the close to 100 million it has already taken at the box office. I was highly disappointed. This movie has a running time of almost 150 minutes and it felt like that and more. The actors do a fine job but the story just dragged on and with you knowing the ending it felt even longer. I'm sure on paper this looked great but it did not translate well to the big screen. I know I am in the minority of this view but unless you really love the principals in this movie or love the time period this gets a THUMBS DOWN from me to watch. Not a terrible movie just an unexpected disappointment.