Saving Lincoln (2013)
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 15
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 11
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 3.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 324
My Rating
Movie Info
The story of Mr. Lincoln and his self-appointed bodyguard, U.S. Marshal Ward Hill Lamon - a banjo-playing Southerner who foiled repeated attempts on the President's life, and kept him functioning during the darkest hours of the Civil War. -- (C) Official Site
Feb 15, 2013 Limited
Independent Pictures
- Official Site
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Tom Amandes
Abraham Lincoln -
Penelope Ann Miller
Mary Todd Lincoln -
Creed Bratton
Senator Charles Sumner -
Josh Stamberg
Salmon P. Chase -
Lew Temple
Montgomery Blair -
Steven Brand
Ned Baker -
Elijah Nelson
Willie Lincoln -
Lea Coco
Ward Hill Lamon -
Bruce Davison
William Seward -
Saidah Arrika Ekulona
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckly -
Robert Craighead
Edwin Stanton -
Michael Maize
Billy Herndon -
Adam Croasdell
Col. Elmer Ellsworth -
Joshua Rush
Tad Lincoln
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Saving Lincoln Trailer & Photos
All Critics (15) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (11)
The film feels like an animated Wikipedia page, just sort of running through the greatest hits of Lincoln's life in office - the Emancipation Proclamation! Gettysburg! The Theater! - without any real insight.
Top CriticNote to filmmakers: Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should do it.
Comes off like a View-Master version of a tale already told.
Litvak's shoestring production sketches in episodes from Lincoln's entire administration, including a strange "Dixie'' singalong on the White House steps to mark the end of the war.
The script, while largely historically accurate, is undermined by stilted dialogue, and the pic is laced with ill-fitting parts that wind up literally all over the matte.
Imagine the stiffness of a Star Wars prequel but without the bravura technique.
An ancillary curio about the man and his struggles, at least for history buffs, and an unusual exception to an old screenwriting rule -- a movie whose framing device benefits it much more than its actual execution.
The innovative look. . .of thrusting actors directly into archival photographs, . .the primary reason to see the film, is particularly striking. . .as visual authenticity.
A bold visual feat undermined by an overstuffed, cold and shallow screenplay and awkward theatrical performances.
The film suggests a way modestly budgeted movies can approach historical epochs and figures in a provocative and arresting manner.
Under even the best of circumstances, Saving Lincoln would have to inevitably face the scrutiny of potential redundancy.
This simulated, caricatured curiosity is another Lincoln log that's recommended primarily for history-buffs.
Film about Abraham Lincoln and his "best friend" and bodyguard is weakened by a bare-bones script, but greatly strengthened by the director's invention of a visual technique that even Steven Spielberg might envy.
Like a movie-watching day in class that makes you miss the thrilling rhetoric of a lecture.
A fresh take on The Great Emancipator from the point-of-view of a trusted companion who had been at the President's side at Gettysburg and for many historical moments but not on the day he died.
Audience Reviews for Saving Lincoln
I recommend this movie to all my friends that are deeply into an accurate and in depth knowledge of American History and the Civil War period.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Hmm... Suspicious Much? | 2 months ago | 1 |
Latest News on Saving Lincoln
February 14, 2013:
Critics Consensus: A Bad Day for A Good Day to Die HardThis week at the movies, we've got the return of John McClane (A Good Day to Die Hard, starring...
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Your story has rekindled the notion that mature men and women can befriend each other without stooping to the low levels as to employ sexual tension to lure the audience into believing the story. You have performed countless tasks seemingly impossible in this modern age of film production and have advanced the notion of moral priority in a film portraying the lives of historical figures of premiere importance and the inter-relationships that they shared.
Mr. Litvak, you are the Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, of theatre and film. Weaving historical images, stories, feelings, and emotions of bygone eras and then reincarnating them so that our society will see what history would have long forgotten if not resurrected by you and your surrounding cadre' of collective genius.
The casting and their performance could not have been better...at times, the film absorbed one into the seen as if you were truly listening and watching the true historical figures.
Congratulations on a refreshing theatrical endeavor and not succumbing to the accepted morays of the film industry.
Dr. Charles Wright, MD, MS