Steven Spielberg & Daniel Day Lewis' Lincoln

[terry78]

I think Lewis will do a big budget summer tentpole one day. He comes off as very persnickety when it comes to roles, but I think one day he's just going to find something so off the wall abstract that he'll take it just for the experience.

 

[747]

This film lacks passion and zest. Feels as if the film is always looking for it's way forward and, among all political chewable, never finds any human entry. Which is extra weird considering that the story is very much about humanity. It is sometimes so mechanically done that you almost could have read the entire story on Wikipedia and still got back just as much.

Spielberg tries to liven up the whole thing with some of his famous tricks of bombast and warm humor. However, there is no conviction behind the craftsmanship and the script is simply not good enough. It takes care of the political stuff in a good way, but completely lacks memorable dialogue and character building. The film depicts Lincoln himself as a genius or a god, but nothing in the characterization explains why. One never gets under his skin. Everyone has flaws, which were Lincoln's? The film's acting and cinematography is what saves it from total failure. A well played and nicely shot drama, but without personality.

4/10

11 Oscar nominations is just crazy. I'd give it three at best, for DDL, TLJ and the cinematography. Nowhere near best film, script och directing though imo.

 

[jacobed]

They depict Lincoln as a very flawed character. Did you not watch the movie.

 

[redhawk23]

This film lacks passion and zest. Feels as if the film is always looking for it's way forward and, among all political chewable, never finds any human entry. Which is extra weird considering that the story is very much about humanity. It is sometimes so mechanically done that you almost could have read the entire story on Wikipedia and still got back just as much.

Spielberg tries to liven up the whole thing with some of his famous tricks of bombast and warm humor. However, there is no conviction behind the craftsmanship and the script is simply not good enough. It takes care of the political stuff in a good way, but completely lacks memorable dialogue and character building. The film depicts Lincoln himself as a genius or a god, but nothing in the characterization explains why. One never gets under his skin. Everyone has flaws, which were Lincoln's? The film's acting and cinematography is what saves it from total failure. A well played and nicely shot drama, but without personality.

4/10

11 Oscar nominations is just crazy. I'd give it three at best, for DDL, TLJ and the cinematography. Nowhere near best film, script och directing though imo.

Yeah all that self doubt as his nation, his authority and his relationships are strained and start to crumble is like some kind of political god mode.
And certainly all those backroomed deals and forcing determined ideologues to make deep moral compromises is totally just a white washed presentation of a perfect moral guardian right? He's just a perfect leader and husband right?

Sometimes I feel people half expect this movie to feature Lincoln getting drunk and dropping N-bombs faster than a Tarantino film and anything else is to be considered a hagiography.

And its not as if they had to make up the fact that he did in fact get the Amendment pushed through in order to put major points in his corner or something. These things happened. These things were accomplished.

But even then, the film is less about Lincoln as man than the observation that even for the best goals or intentions there is often no pure or easy path to get there. The movie is just as much about today as it is the civil war.

 

[redhawk23]

I think Lewis will do a big budget summer tentpole one day. He comes off as very persnickety when it comes to roles, but I think one day he's just going to find something so off the wall abstract that he'll take it just for the experience.

His role as Billy the Butcher and Gangs of New York itself really wasn't that far off from a summer tentpole anyways.

The choice would likely have just as much to do with the filmmaker as the role.