You see, while I don't want to appear dismissive of a film dealing with such a worthwhile subject and man, several hours after watching I still feel as if there was something missing.
The easiest way to describe it is to draw a parallel with Invictus (the 2009 biopic staring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon), which left me feeling more uplifted.
But let's start with the positives here.
In Idris Elba (as Nelson) and Naomie Harris (Winnie), Long Walk has two actors who dominate the show, bringing passion and belief to the screen - with Elba almost making you forget Freeman played him.
Played Mandela, that is, not Idris Elba.
And it looks stunning, with sweeping panoramic shots of Mandela's homeland contrasting brilliantly with the townships he was forced to live in during the struggle for equality.
And it's the struggle that comes across loud and proud.
Make no mistake, this is not an easy watch. You can't spend any length of time in the company of this movie without getting angry at the way the white minority treated the indigenous population in South Africa.
The violence, the vile treatment - it's all here, interspersed with historical footage of coverage of some of the worst massacres.
What also comes across well is how events shaped the two main characters in very different ways.
While certain Western leaders were keen to label Mandela a terrorist, Long Walk shows us it was the actions of the ruling white minority that led him to take more drastic, direct action.
It's the same with Winnie.
Her public persona is not a kind one, with history painting her as a woman who went off the rails while Nelson was locked away on Robben Island.
But what we learn from Long Walk is how her treatment at the hands of the ruling elite (she was in solitary confinement for 18 months in a bid to break the drive for equality) shaped her. Previously she was happy to support her husband, but after her treatment she was hell bent on revenge.
And, in all honesty, it's hard to blame her. Suffer 18 months of physical and mental abuse while your children are looked after by someone else and see how you react.
And it's this treatment that, for me, provides the stand-out moment in the film.
On her release, Winnie gives a brief speech outside her home - a speech delivered with such belief by Harris that it gave me goosebumps.
Sadly, such emotional high points are few and far between.
While the film recounts an important piece of history, carrying a message that still stands today, it does so at too steady a pace.
A really, really steady pace. Remember how Lincoln never got out of second gear? That.
OK, it's stating the obvious to say that Mandela's life was light on laughs before he became president - but there is no respite here in the endless anger, fighting and struggle.
I'm not saying - and let's be very clear about this - that they should have rewritten history to make a comedy of the whole thing, far from it - this is, as I've said already, an important piece of history that needs documenting.
Invictus, by comparison, is uplifting - particularly the piece about the poem he read every day in his cell.
OK, Long Walk couldn't cite that - the poem's title was used in the other film after all - but what it does is show us how he somehow grew spiritually while on Robben Island.
What Long Walk tells us is that his time in incarceration didn't break him. Which is not the same thing.
And at two hours 20 minutes, you come out of this feeling like you've not only read the whole of Long Walk To Freedom, but been repeatedly hit over the head by it.
Despite this, Long Walk is still a great film with - as I may have mentioned - two stunning portrayals at its heart.
It certainly deserves its 'epic' tag, and you can guarantee the Oscar judges are going to be all over this - and deservedly so.
But while it is a film of great performances, for me it is not a great film.
* Popcorn postcript:
Having gone back to see it again (not my idea, granted), it is a better film on second viewing.
Still too many questions about how his time on Robben Island shaped him (how did he not follow the same path as Winnie, given we're shown nothing but the oppressive control he was under?) and how did a man of war become a man of peace?
And why the hell is Bono singing at the end?
But the central performances are still stunning (even if they do dominate to the detriment of the rest of the cast), and it still looks beautiful.
PS: One trailer I've seen is painting Long Walk To Freedom as a tense, political thriller with guns and chases galore. It's not that film. Yes, there are guns, and explosions, and people running about. But it's NOT that film.
This portrayal of Mandela's walk to freedom certainly was long. I will give it that.
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