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You are here: Home » Movies » Invictus
Movie Poster

Invictus

  • Currently 4/5 Stars.

Cinema Release Date 05 Feb 2010
DVD Release Date 14 Jun 2010
95% of raters want to see this
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Scott Eastwood, Robert Hobbs, Langley Kirkwood, Bonnie Henna, Grant Roberts, Patrick Holland
Writer(s): Anthony Peckham, John Carlin,
Producer(s): Clint Eastwood, Mace Neufeld,
Director(s): Clint Eastwood


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So, what's it all about?

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Movies.ie Review

A recently-elected Nelson Mandela (Freeman) spurs on his country's rugby team, the Springboks, to victory over New Zealand's All Blacks on June 24th, 1995, his hope being that just such a victory would unite South Africa's blacks (who generally preferred soccer) and whites. Leading the team is good guy Francois Pienaar (Damon)...

THE VERDICT: It's probably a sin of some sort to say that I wasn't overly-impressed by Clint Eastwood's latest film, given the incredible true-life event at its centre, but, the very thing that makes Invictus rich makes it poor. You just know what you're going to get here.

Seeing Matt Damon as good guy Francois Pienaar is one thing, but having Morgan Freeman walk out as Nelson Mandela just feels so... well, inevitable.

Eastwood's simplistic, pared down approach generally works wonders too, but here, it just seems like we're skimming over the surface, and that the murky politics of real life are underneath that surface, should you care to think deeper about this true-life fable. I came away wishing this had been a documentary, with one or two hardened voices.

RATING: 2/5

Review By Paul Byrne

Member Reviews

pinklady
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Great story Morgan Freeman is brilliant and Matt fab
Bigeamo
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Well worth a look, if only for Morgan Freeman.
Trevor Valentine
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
Jamesito
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Great performance from Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon too. There was so much hopt ion south Africa at that time, the film captured that spirit really well.
marky88
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
DeadParrot
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 apart from the slips in accent this was a role Freeman was destined to play. Good inspiring flick
De5p
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 Another masterpeice from Clint Eastwood. Great cast great story, a must see movie.
beansy
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
seamyfox
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Very good film. only fault is freemans accent
bd
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.
peteclarke
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Alright, bit boring. Too many forward passes!
Out_Of_Step
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
technogoblin
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Matt damon was fantastic, overdid it on the rugby scenes a little but i found this one to be pretty inspiring indeed.
clivebb
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Not one of his best
mart
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 great acting all round, would love it to pick up a oscar or two
Cerr
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
eamonn halpin
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 This film tells the story of Nelson Mandela joining with the captain of the South African rugby team to bring the people of South Africa together through a common love of sport. Morgan Freeman plays a strong lead. It is a true story and a good film but would not be my favourite film of the last year.
Gavinsko
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Kind of slow moving but kept together by a couple of great central performances.
Swagga Whaa
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
crazylegs
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 this is a good movie, but i didn't really live up to the hype.
enigmab17
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Great film. Loved most of it. Story, cast and script were great, and executed together with precision. A very up-beat and up-lifting film. I will agree that there are some terrible cliche moments in it, but they are completely over-shadowed by the story and the magnificent portrayal of Mandela done by the great Mr Freeman (no not the one from Half-life). My only gripe is that they didn't really show much back story. I would have loved if they went into how he got to where he was, how he survived etc, although that could have drastically changed the emotional direction. Anyway, get's 4 stars, unfortunately has to loose a star for the appaulable cliches, and well lack of back-story, but other than that is an excellent film that I would recommend to anyone.
Tish418
  • Currently 1/5 Stars.
 Boring, cheesy, Matt Damon.
Chad
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Enjoyed this film but found it hard to get into. Worth watching!!
vu1999uk
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Really enjoyable sports drama with Morgan Freeman putting in a brillant performance as Nelson Mandela.
alanhorkan
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Essentially just another sports film but a well made one with two strong leads doing what they can with a fairly simplistic story. The balance is a little odd, Mandela's story dominates.
giggleberrywoof
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.
 Disliked the movie itself (I'm not a great rugby fan so that could've effected my judgement) but kudos to Matt Damon. Hadn't heard from him in a while and he seems to be making a comeback. Freeman was also awesome in this movie.
andrewire
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 Not a great film. I thought it was rather boring. Morgan Freeman's South African accent was far from even sounding similar and Matt Damon played Matt Damon with an accent. It's incredible that they both got Oscar-nominated for this film but I pressume it was a result of the autopilot voting: Mandela + Real life biopic + inspirational = Tons of nominations. The first half of the movie felt long; the second half is better but Eastwood tries too hard to make you feel sentimental with his mellow score and cheesy songs here and there. Some questions are left unanswered which is good -that way you'll have to do your homework- but I think Nelson Mandela deserves a better movie. Eastwood simply wasn't the right director.
bigslick184
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Good political film with a side order of rugby. Good story and overall done well. Freeman and Damon are mostly great with only sum scenes seeming bit weird.
pkinsella
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 Was looking forward to this one and it disappoint. Good story told well. Damon gives a good performance and Freeman is likable as always. Would have liked a bit more tension built up with the final match and some of the rugby scenes were a little slow paced but done well overall. Well worth a trip to the cinema
ssconnolly
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 A lot of people were rather upset by the news that Clint Eastwood was to quite acting and concentrate solely on developing his directing career in the future. I on the other hand was quite excited as to be honest I think he is a far better bahind the camera than in front of it. His directed works make up quite an outstanding collection. Mystic River, Changeling, Unforgiven, Letter for Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino. Some of the best films we've seen this decade and every one of them with Clint at the helm. So it is no suprise that Invictus has been gathering a lot of excitement and Oscar buzz. And at this stage Eastwood knows he is one of the Academy's favourites, and I really don't think he could've picked a more Oscar friendly project. It's the story of Nelson Mandela using his new position as President of South Africa to unite the people of the country with the nations rugby team. Now this may not sound like the most interesting story but Clint Eastwood has made a great film from it. I personally had high expectations yet it somehow exceeded all these expectations. I figured it would be a political film with a bit of sport but thankfully it was actually more of a sports movie with a bit of politics. It moves along swiftly and the films events unfold naturally. This smooth progression makes the film a gripping and easy to watch film. The film also allows us to easily engage in the films event and by the end I found myself using all my willpower not to jump up and start sheering at the screen. I got a real patriotic feeling despite not being South African in any way. The film is not only powerful and unbelievably inspiring but also informative, touching and visually stunning. It is a real crowd pleaser and will appeal to so many people. When this is released there will be rugby fans, South Africans, Film fans, politicians and many more. Eastwood knows what people want and he delivers on all counts. Eastwood also manages to tackle many themes without things becoming unfocused, which is difficult to do. What I found most impressive was how well he did the whole racial tension thing. There are so many films out there which tackle the theme of race but there aren't a lot which do it without coming off a bit pretentious. Eastwood however did it wonderfully and made the film a more intimate and enjoyable film. The cast of the film were quite impressive too. Nelson Mandela is played on screen by Morgan Freeman, but really no one else was going to get that role. He did do a phenomenal job and this will go down as one of the best displays of his career. He was suprisingly convincing and had a strong on screen presence. He has no chance of winning an Oscar for this but he will definitely receive a nomination. Matt Damon on the other hand I thought was a bit dull. It seems to me that he can't act without a gun in his hand and an assassin on his tail. When it comes to these more serious, character driven films he just doesn't impress me. He was better in this than he has been in some past displays but generally I was not impressed, and his terrible accent really didn't help. So all in all Invictus is an engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable film about a great time in history. I would recommend this for anyone cause odds are you will be part of the target audience. It is beautifully captured, very well directed and generally well performed. It tackles a lot of themes but balances them well and never becomes too hectic or unfocused. Freeman and Eastwood both make a world class input to the film and will surely be recognised come Oscar season.

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