Lincoln (2012) Review

LINCOLN (2012)
Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Tony Kushner

Producers: Jonathan King, Daniel Lupi, Jeff Skoll, Steven Spielberg, and Kathleen Kennedy

Editor: Michael Kahn

Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski

Music: John Williams

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, David Strathaim, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Runtime: 2 hours 30 minutes

Rating: PG-13 (war violence, war carnage, and language)

Genre: Biopic, Drama, History

Release Date: November 16, 2012

Before Watching the Movie: It may help to quickly read up on the Civil War, especially the last months. It isn't necessary for the enjoyment of the movie, but it allows you to pick up on who's who and what's what a little better.

Intro: From the time I heard they were making Lincoln, I knew it couldn't be bad. Steven Spielberg is a great director who does a fantastic job at historical movies, and I saw they assembled a pretty impressive cast. When it came out a week ago and got good reviews, I was encouraged even more to see it. As if I needed any more encouragement to see it, my AP Government teacher told my class that we'd get extra credit if we saw it. And that was the nail in the coffin and I went to see it earlier today. Lincoln was pretty much as advertised and as expected. It had incredible acting, especially from Daniel Day-Lewis, a great script, and was slow at first but was very engaging by the end. There is almost no doubt it will be nominated and win several Oscars in February.

Plot: The movie tells the story of President Lincoln's last 4 months in office in 1865, focusing on the passage of the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery, and the negotiations with the South to end of the war. The emphasis is on the 13th Amendment, as the movie tells the story of how Lincoln and his supporters won the necessary votes in the House of Representatives to get the Amendment passed. There's not a lot I can say here without giving a full-on history lesson. If you want to know more, I suggest googling some of these topics.

Things people may find "objectionable": The main thing is language. There are 2 usages of the F-word, along with some other mild language. There is also one war scene at the beginning of the movie that is intense, as it shows people fighting and getting shot and stabbed. There is also a scene or two that shows the carnage of the battles, which involves a lot of corpses. Other than a couple instances, the movie really isn't bad at all in this department.

Ratings:

     -Directing/Cinematography: 9/10. Subtle but solid directing. It didn't stick out as much as Spielberg's directing usually does, but nonetheless it was very well shot and the visuals were good. If nothing else, you expect good directing when you see a Spielberg movie.

     -Acting: 10/10. Phenomenal acting. There's no doubt that Daniel Day-Lewis will at least be nominated for Best Actor and will likely win. He was really fantastic. The rest of the cast was no slouch either. I really respect Tommy Lee Jones and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as actors, and they both do a great job. This is easily the best part of the movie. Not to say everything else was bad, it's just that the acting was that good.

     -Writing: 10/10.

          -Story: 10/10. Can't really grade this on the story since it's history and not fiction, but I can grade the selection of the story to make a movie about. It's about time someone made a good biopic of Lincoln. It's really about time. And no, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter doesn't count.

          -Script: 10/10. Very good script. It was solid and produced a lot of good lines. This and the acting were the best parts of the movie.

After seeing Lincoln, I was inspired to make this teaser trailer for a fake biopic about our 

9th president, William Henry Harrison. In case you don't get the joke, he died after 31 days in office.

    
     -Special Effects: n/a. Not needed at all. Lincoln was a movies that would have functioned just as well if it were a stage play.

     -Music/Score: 9/10. The score was subtle, but good. Is it possible for John Williams to write a bad score? I mean, seriously.

     -Power/Emotion: 7/10. It started off relatively slow and I slowly felt more and more for the characters. Even after seeing the movie, I am still feeling for the characters and the situations they were in. The movie is slow in the beginning and then begins to suck you in, and I think becoming more engaged with the characters and situation help this a lot.

     -Adrenaline: 5/10. Not as much as I would've liked. The tension was slow and took a while to build and also wasn't constant like it was in Argo. It's also kind of sudden. You somehow subconsciously become engaged. This was the weakest point of the movie, though in Lincoln's defense, its point wasn't to thrill you.

     -Intelligence: 9/10. The movie really makes you think and is pretty intellectual. It taught me just how much corrupt bargaining and haggling the Lincoln administration had to do to pass the 13th Amendment. One reason I like Spielberg movies is that when he does historical movies like Saving Private Ryan or War Horse, he likes to get the facts straight. As a total history geek, I really enjoy and respect this, and it was cool to get some of the historical references in the movie.
     -Humor: 4/10. There were actually some pretty funny moments worked in. The majority of the movie was serious, but the comic touches were nice. In my opinion, it's always good to have at least some comic relief in any serious movie.

     -Best Credit: None. The problem here is that since it's so historical, nearly every character you see is an actual person. And for those who weren't actual people, their roles had boring names like "Congressmen" and so forth.

     -Final Score: Lincoln was exactly the type of movie I thought and hoped it would be--and that's a good thing. It will undoubtedly win multiple Oscars, probably at least for acting or writing. It will also be in contention with Argo for Best Picture. If I had to pick a Best Picture winner between those two, I would probably pick Argo, but both movies are deserving. If you like historical movies or want to see an extremely well-made movie, see Lincoln. While it starts off slow, it becomes great by the end.