Invictus (2009)

Thus far, I haven't been a big lover of Eastwood's zest for directing. I don't know how many movies he managed to release in this decade but it's enough to give kudos for staying active. On one hand Eastwood is everything i praise about the craft, the challenge it present us. I'm always the most impressed by the people who can be found in several avenues of film, be it in front of the camera or behind it; that’s how you really leave a mark on cinema. On the other hand, know your strengths, what if Madonna was an excellent key-grip, or better yet sound technician; and was Swept Away necessary, I digress, sometimes the glove doesn't fit. I find that to be the case when I watch a film directed by Eastwood, I secretly hope for him to show up and possible start shooting stuff. I'm not really impressed at life as seen through this man's eye, and more over, the way he views it with such drab, and ugly undertones, never visually impressed by him for some reason, the scenes are saved by the actors. So in viewing Invictus, I still don't get the love, and maybe this man's crapped out one to many ideas to give his double zeros much care, they almost blend together in their defused schemes.

Invictus which is both about Nelson Mandela's first year as president, and the Rugby team that united the country at his will, changing the identity of the country forever. This is actually an interesting piece of sports and political history, and it's interesting how in simply rallying people around something they all can enjoy leads to peaceful coalition elsewhere. The bond between the President (Morgan Freeman) and the Teams Captain (Matt Damon) is very strong, as our comparisons in the world they face. Both actors do pretty good here, Freeman often allows believable escape into someone who is vastly recognized, while Damon is able to be anonymous and his performance comes across very well, he's the regular Joe whose world is changed by the people and the pressures that he faces. That reads well on Damon who really should be taken serious as an actor by now (remember when he was attached to that other guy), it’s a very good physical role too and he was also able to bring across the characters inspiration and determination Top marks in the acting, big cast too, everyone is decent. Love the hot secretaries.

The movie comes close to mining actual emotion but seems stunted by the length of the scenes. The film is also overly poetic and thus takes away from the central beauty of the event. And the films final act is a series of shots of crowds cheering and teams scoring ad nauseam. It kind of took something that was interesting and over sentimentalized it to the point of winning white fluffy kittens at the end. Kind of lost its point, just be happening everyone got home safe.

So if sports history, political history, or these people’s lives seem interesting to you, there’s something in this film that you will find interest in. However everyone else just gets treated to an overlong biopic that lacks above all things direction. That looks like it has cataracts and gets to the line of passionate viewer response, and farts. None-the-less his films attract talented people to them, and that shows, these performances are decent and can carry the movie through to its overly rewarding conclusion. Good for Eastwood, Palatable, and bland for the rest of us, proceed with caution.