Lincoln Review
Lincoln has got to be one of the most hyped films of the year, which mostly down to its award nominations/wins and the critic's buzz surrounding it. I went into this picture hoping to firstly be told more about the story of how slavery was banned, secondly to watch a great performance from Daniel Day Lewis and thirdly (as always) to be entertained. The film managed to carry out the first two hopes.
The film is set in America in 1865 just after the peak of the civil war, its basic narrative is about the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, trying to get a law passed to ban black slavery. Now while this and Django unchained may have a similar theme, its safe to say that they're completely different kinds of films. This film is very politics heavy, which obviously I was expecting, but not to the degree that it was. Most of the dialogue consisted of technical jargon that went right over my head, making me feel uneducated in both American politics and in the plot of the film which became very confusing. I'm not going to lie, knowing it was directed by Spielberg I went into the cinema expecting a politics based version of War horse, but to his credit he's finally tried something new, and judging by the reviews and award nominations it has worked for a lot of people.
The performance that's winning all the awards, Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln, was as expected an excellent one. He plays the quiet and knowledgeable president, and the performance seemed to come very naturally to Lewis. Tommy Lee Jones' performance is underrated to a massive degree, managed to carry the whole he film along for me, making it slightly less tedious and bringing a sense of humour to the film (mostly through his epic wig). The camera work in the film was subtle and delicate, no Katherine Bigalow style shaking cameras here, and every shot felt like it was meant to be there, especially the long slow zooms of Lincoln as he makes his speeches. However the sepia stained lens used through the whole film made the film not only sound, but look dull as well, and mixed with the boring decor gave the film a very drab vibe.
There were some positives after watching the film though, I now know a bit more about American politics than I did going in (not much use in the UK but hey ho) and I have to admit I did enjoy the performances of both Tommy Lee Jones and Daniel Day Lewis. I can only really recommend this film to people who want to see what the buzz is about, or for people who are genuinely interested in the subject. Being someone who constantly watches heavy dialogue driven art films even I couldn't bare the snooze inducing political jargon filled scenes and if you're thinking about seeing this with your kids... just no. So while I will give Spielberg credit for moving on from family adventure into serious film making, I wouldn't say this is my cup of tea.
10/10 for the performances, 6/10 for the film.
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