Soundtrack Review: Lincoln (2012)

Lincoln Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Lincoln by John Williams.

“This is a score you shouldn’t miss.”

Lincoln is the Steven Spielberg directed biopic about one of the greatest American presidents Abraham Lincoln. As the Civil War continues to rage, America’s president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield and as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and David Strathairn stars in this movie and John Williams is the composer.

Track List

1. The People’s House	100
2. The Purpose of the Amendment	80
3. Getting Out the Vote	80
4. The American Process	80
5. The Blue and Grey	80
6. With Malice Toward None	100
8. The Southern Delegation and the Dream	60
9. Father and Son	80
10. The Race to the House	80
11. Equality Under the Law	80
12. Freedom’s Call	100
13. Elegy	80
14. Remembering Willie	80
15. Appomattox, April 9, 1865	80
16. The Peterson House and Finale	100
17. With Malice Toward None (Piano Solo)	80

If you ever heard John Williams (and who hasn’t), then I can tell you right away that this isn’t going to be something you haven’t heard before. It’s very formulaic John Williams and that can be a very good thing if you are looking for that. The opening theme ‘The People’s House’ is simply superb and worthy of John Williams who we know can knock these themes up for every occasion. There’s some great stuff in here as every cue continues in the same vein, some more successful than others.

Williams doesn’t take chances with this one. There’s no experimental cues like there was for Tintin or Harry Potter for example. This is all very perfectly laid out and it all sounds beautiful, but since it’s John Williams, shouldn’t we expect more? I think so, at least I did. With War Horse he had more to go on, but perhaps it’s the material of the film that required this sort of score. I feel like Williams is holding back.

There’s a fantastic 11 minute cue ‘The Peterson House and Finale’ and it’s really more of a suite. It’s tempting to say that if you listen to this cue, you have heard the score. In this case it’s almost true, but since it’s John Williams, every single note needs listening. It’s beautiful, that’s for sure.

Conclusion

It’s formulaic John Williams, but you know what? I’d rather have that all year than a lot of the scores out there. It feels very safe and knowing that it’s John Williams and the way he constructs beautiful themes, this is a score you shouldn’t miss. Perhaps we should expect more from him, specially since he doesn’t compose many scores these days, but overall, this is a score that just sounds good.

GEEK SCORE: 83.7