Daniel Day-lewis - Lincoln Review Round-Up: Critics Give Lincoln Their Vote

Lincoln Review Round-Up: Critics Give Lincoln Their Vote

The new biopic of America's 16th President, Lincoln, has been almost universally applauded by critics, with the Presidential drama hoping to take the praise and run when it is released in cinemas worldwide.

Steven Spielberg sits behind the camera for this historic epic, with multi-Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln. The insightful drama focuses on honest Abe's tumultuous final few months in office, tracking the end of the American Civil War, and thus the abolition of slavery, up to his assassination by John Wilkes Booth. 

The film already holds a 92% 'fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics across the board applauding Spielberg's direction, the gripping screenplay and a 10/10 performance from all of the cast, especially Day-Lewis. The two-time Oscar winner is already favourite to take home his third statuette in February, although he does face stiff competition already from Hollywood's finest.

Whilst top reviewers such as Rolling Stone, who described the film as a "brilliant, brawling epic," and TIME Magazine, "an instructive feast", some reviews have in fact been somewhat negative of the historical epic. Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger complained that the film missed out some of Lincoln's best qualities, commenting that the film was "Daguerreotype - careful, quiet and dully framed."

Meanwhile movie blog CinemaBlend.com was also unforgiving in the depiction of one of America's most beloved figures, commenting that the film "plays like a two-hour speech, a solemn slog to a foregone conclusion."

The film will be in cinemas worldwide by January 25th 2013, with its release across America on November 16th, so by then you can see whether you agree with the praisers or the naysayers.