Killing Lincoln is a docudrama narrated by Tom Hanks, executive produced by Ridley Scott and his late brother Tony and written by Erik Jendresen (Band of Brothers), based on Bill O’Reilly’s book.
 
However, not only does the film pale severely in the face of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, but also it can’t measure up to many of the historical dramas shown through the years on HBO and Showtime.
 
The structure of Killing Lincoln works against it. The film stars Billy Campbell as Lincoln and Jesse Johnson as John Wilkes Booth, with Hanks appearing nearly as often as the on-camera narrator. Hanks’ stentorian delivery and dramatic chops help keep Killing Lincoln nailed to the ground -- where it otherwise might seem too slight to keep in place.
 
Much of the history is spoken, not seen, and though Campbell does the best he can with his role, the docudrama seems thin and disconnected -- as if the scripted, acted parts are merely in service of Hanks’ narration. This doesn’t allow the characters, events or even the sense of place to be fully realized.
 
A bigger problem might have been in the direction given Johnson on how to play Booth, a trained actor and a man Killing Lincoln states is more than the two-dimensional person portrayed in history -- though it does little to make him seem more than that.