doesn't surprise me that CGS ate this up like ice cream...
this film's a two and a half hour long sermon fed to an audience who comes in already being against slavery...not once does this film have an ounce of credibility on the other side, which is why this country was torn apart. every guy you don't like is easy to dislike; lincoln is basically jesus christ. his only flaw is he's TOO damn genuine!
please. this film had zero conflict. oh sure it had a lot of yelling in it. but after reading "john adams" and seeing the miniseries, this film was absolutely beneath it in its portrayal of history. it's so preachy, so earnest and eager to appease the people that are already going to agree with its principle, that i fail to see the point in it altogether. day-lewis is stoic, but he isn't a character. there is very little of a human touch about him. and sally field is constantly crying, whining, and screaming like she is wringing the Oscar that she is barking to get. and while JGL is a good actor, he was wasted in this totally pointless role as Robert Lincoln.
this movie is like eating too much cotton candy; and even though it's verbose, most of the dialog is absolutely meaningless. lincoln walks in to deliver a speech to anyone who will listen, they'll be touched, and the audience sighs with a heavy heart. the pace is terrible, and kushner's script lacks real drama. there WAS real drama during this period, and there was a lot at stake. nowhere during this film did i feel any of that. just a lot of patting on the back of the "good guys", and finger pointing at the bad guys. notice how just about every bad guy either looks like a weasel, speaks weakly, or is just a raging moron.
it'll get its awards, and people who don't think too deeply about anything will love it. but you will learn nothing about what it actually meant to abolish slavery, and what happened to this country when the two sides were still very split; i saw right through it from the opening scene, which told me one thing:
it's sentimental hogwash.
out of