Lincoln DVD Review

Director: Steven Spielberg

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

Running Time: 144 minutes

Certificate: 12

Extras: The Journey Of Lincoln, Crafting The Past

Civil war, slavery, Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones are all you really need to know about LINCOLN, available on DVD and Blu-ray now.

In the last 10 years Spielberg’s output has varied from the sublime – MINORITY REPORT, MUNICH – to the ridiculous – INDIANA JONES 4, the second half of WAR OF THE WORLDS. With LINCOLN Spielberg hits top form and delivers his best ‘serious’ film since SCHINDLER’S LIST.

Framed around the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, LINCOLN is surprisingly funny in places thanks to a motley crew of Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, and a hopefully prosthetically enhanced James Spader, but is otherwise every bit as serious as you’d expect. Daniel Day-Lewis as the titular LINCOLN deserved the BAFTA and Oscar® for a performance of heart, bravery and believability – he doesn’t play Abraham Lincoln, he is Abraham Lincoln. Next to him as Secretary Of State William Seward is David Strathairn who delivers a monstrously underplayed performance and demands your attention when he speaks. It is Tommy Lee Jones as Stevens who walks off with the film however. Portraying a towering figure he illuminates the screen and during one particular scene will make you angry, laugh and probably cry, all in the space of three minutes.

As you’d expect from a 50 year veteran, Spielberg directs with confidence and beauty. From the House of Representatives to the White House the film offers history and beauty in equal measure. John Williams score may not be the most showy of his career but it is beautifully constructed and matches the mood of each scene wonderfully.

Running at 144 minutes you could be forgiven for thinking LINCOLN may lag in places but Spielberg and editor Michael Kahn keep the visuals and the story interesting for the duration. No mean feat considering the story is entirely dialogue based. The heavily criticised side involving Robert (Gordon-Levitt) does nothing to diminish the films impact and even adds to it, giving a human side to the Civil War which isn’t present when the focus is on the 13th Amendment.

LINCOLN is everything you’d want from a historical epic: realistic, full of heart and enjoyable. With magnetic performances and stirring direction it was 2012’s most under-appreciated  film by cinema audiences in the US, and in early 2013 in the UK. So if you missed it, get down to your local stockist and pick up a piece of brilliance.

LINCOLN is available on DVD and Blu-ray via Twentieth Century Fox now. You can order it here.