Lincoln: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Daniel Day-Lewis plays the 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln who had just been reelected for a second term. This film recounts his efforts to get the 13th Amendment passed which would abolish slavery in The United States of America until his assassination on April 15, 1865.
Creating films that take on the task of retelling history can be tricky at times to get perfectly right but fortunately for us as an audience Steven Spielberg has done a fantastic job at doing so. The attention to detail that went into recreating this time period is amazing and felt like I was placed there with them experiencing these historic moments. Day-Lewis is absolutely stupendous as Lincoln and proves that when an actor loves what they do and cares about the character they play then they truly make a complete transformation into said character. Sure the film only touches on the last bit of his life but I think it was perfect this way. It allowed us to really soak in and pay attention to detail what this man was trying to accomplish for the nation. If it would have concentrated on his whole life then we would either have a four hour film or one that was chopped up and watered down so much that it would take away from this historic moment. There have been a few interpretations of Abraham Lincoln in film (I’m just going to exclude the Vampire Hunter version) over the years and this has to be the ultimate one. I don’t see anyone coming close to even topping this nor should anyone even try. This is a beautifully directed film that I think everyone should see but I do recommend that you prepare yourself mentally to sit down, take it all in and enjoy the film.
Special Features:
The Journey To Lincoln – A brief (but very good) recollection of the steps that were taken to bring Lincoln to the big screen.
A Historic Tapestry: Richmond, Virginia – This shows exactly how Richmond still embodies the feel of the Civil War era and how little the production teams had to dress up the buildings and surrounding areas for filming.
Additional Features that were included on a Bonus Disc in the 4-Disc Combo Pack
In The Company Of Character – A fantastic look into the casting process and how each actor took their respective role and prepared for it.
Crafting The Past – A look at how the production design team takes the time to pay attention to the littlest detail to recreate that time period.
Living With Lincoln – A 28 minute behind the scenes feature on the making of the film that really digs deep into experiences from the cast and crew.
In Lincoln’s Footsteps – Takes an interesting look at some of the editing, sound design and scoring of the film.
Lincoln is available NOW on 2-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, 4-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and DVD from From DreamWorks Pictures and 20th Century Fox
