Weekly Movie Review 12/06
Lincoln; terrific film, terrific performances, honest
When deciding what to review from this weekend’s newest theatrical releases, I discovered my options were either Kill Them Softly or some unknown horror film called The Collection. Neither of those really sounded all that appealing, so I opted to check out Lincoln instead.
There probably isn’t a better known, researched, documented, or beloved government figure as our 16th president. Because so much is universally known about Honest Abe, a film about him would either be a great success or go horribly wrong. Thankfully, Lincoln was an extremely enjoyable experience.
The writing in Lincoln is superb and is written differently than many other historical biopics. It’s not really a biopic at all and I must admit, that’s kind of what I was expecting going in. Instead of showing everything in Lincoln’s, the film assumes the audience’s abundance of knowledge about Abe and we’re shown the last several years of the Civil War as the House of Representatives attempts to pass the 13th amendment.
The best part of Lincoln is Lincoln himself and he probably better be if your name is in the title of the film. Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays Lincoln, actually transforms into the man whose face is found on the penny. So much so, at times I almost felt I was watching the real deal. Of course, we’re not, but if Day-Lewis doesn’t win best actor at this year’s Oscars, I’ll be very, very surprised.
The writing is terrific, the performances are incredible all around and the set design and costuming is fantastic. Halfway through, the film did feel to get somewhat bogged down as it started to get overly talky without much going on. But the worst thing about the movie is that it’s able to make one long for leaders like Lincoln, who are willing to stand on principle not matter how popular or unpopular the decision for the good of the country. There’s not much else that can be said about Lincoln except, go see the film and the best performance of the year, you’ll enjoy it. I know I did.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
