‘Bokbuster’ gets thumbs up
9 Dec 2009
Clint Eastwood’s Invictus movie has received mostly positive reviews in the USA ahead of its release this Friday.
The movie currently has a 76% rating on rottontomatoes.com, with 16 favourable and five unfavourable reviews.
Some of the comments from the industry’s top critics include:
David Ansen, Newsweek
‘Invictus is not a biopic; nor does it take us deep inside any of its characters – Eastwood views Mandela from a respectful middle distance. It’s about strategic inspiration. We witness a politician at the top of his game: Freeman’s wily Mandela is a master of charm and soft-spoken gravitas. Anthony Peckham’s sturdy, functional screenplay, based on John Carlin’s book Playing the Enemy, can be a bit on the nose (and the message songs Eastwood adds are overkill). Yet the lapses fade in the face of such a soul-stirring story—one that would be hard to believe if it were fiction. The wonder of Invictus is that it actually went down this way.’ Full review
Kirk Honeycut, The Hollywood Reporter
‘It’s a film about a nation’s psyche, not its individuals. Where you would love a vigorous portrayal of two larger-than-life personalities, the film tiptoes through polite scenes where everyone speaks and acts with political correctness.’ Full review
Todd McCarthy, Variety
‘Inspirational on the face of it, Clint Eastwood’s film has a predictable trajectory, but every scene brims with surprising details that accumulate into a rich fabric of history, cultural impressions and emotion.’ Full review
Rex Reed, New York Observer
‘… the use of obvious symbolism is often unsettling. Naming the movie after a corny poem Mandela reads aloud in a flashback to his prison cell is a stretch. OK, we get the symbol of a changing society. But the scene of cops in a white patrol car parked outside the stadium who chase away a black street urchin and then share their radio with the kid as the Springboks head for victory, all of them screaming and hugging each other, suddenly oblivious to skin color, followed by a close-up of a white hand and a black hand clutching the World Cup together? Subtlety is not a strength here, but pandering to heart-tugging cliches in a Clint Eastwood film is downright embarrassing.’ Full review
Jake Coyle, Associated Press
‘Invictus is dripping with inspiration – how to summon it, how to communicate it. Late in his career, Eastwood seems to be finding it everywhere.’ Full review
Mike Goodridge, Screen Daily
‘An old-fashioned crowd-pleaser which is both a rousing sports movie and a testament to the nobility of Nelson Mandela, Invictus is another strong entry in Clint Eastwood’s fast-growing body of work.’ Full review
294 Comments
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9 Dec 2009, 17:24 pm
I’ve just been going through the discussion threads on Internet Movie Database’s entry for “Invictus”.
It is full of New Zealanders complaining about the “poisoning scandal” and how this should have been included in the movie.
Interesting.
9 Dec 2009, 17:38 pm
@WP Till I Die: They should start a support group with all those Poms who thinks they scored a try in the ’07 final.
I suggest strong medication and a big dose of reality.
9 Dec 2009, 17:39 pm
@WP Till I Die:
but then the movie would have to be reclassified as “fiction”
9 Dec 2009, 17:51 pm
Got my tickets already!! 09:20 at Tygervalley for Friday! I’m so amped!
9 Dec 2009, 17:56 pm
@WP Till I Die: what poisoning scandal scandal?
9 Dec 2009, 18:06 pm
the kiwis have the suzie scandal for the 95 loss & a forward pass for their ’07 loss, the poms have “lewsey’s try” for the ’07 exit…What do saffas have to blame for the ’99 exit & ’03 exit, quotas?
9 Dec 2009, 18:11 pm
@Tacitus:
Listen Boet, I agree truths are twisted when they are retold, however why dont you do some REAL research in to JFK and you will see what really happened!!! dont believe everything the US or any other media jams down your one eyed throat Bud!!
9 Dec 2009, 18:13 pm
@Transformation: who’s suzzie?
9 Dec 2009, 18:15 pm
@Wezzo777: I reckon the butler did it with a candlestick in the drawing room.
9 Dec 2009, 18:21 pm
Suzie is a scapegoat famous in New Zealand and in London (due to all the New Zealanders there).
9 Dec 2009, 18:22 pm
Actuallly, she’s not a scapegoat. Suzie is a scapesheep.
9 Dec 2009, 18:23 pm
Suzie is similiar to the tooth fairy and father christmas etc.
9 Dec 2009, 18:25 pm
@SpringbokSarah: well sarah, it’s a tall tale told by new zealanders that before the ’95 world cup, their team was poisoned by a lady named suzie, which is why some of their players were throwing up even during the game…that is the gist of the “suzie” story…
9 Dec 2009, 18:25 pm
Suzie is a lot like world peace, actually.
Never existed, never will, and believed in by airheads.
9 Dec 2009, 18:31 pm
@Transformation: the players were throwing up on the field? dude that’s whack
@WP Till I Die: roflmao
9 Dec 2009, 18:35 pm
WPTID,
9 Dec 2009, 18:37 pm
Slappes – we should pitch that Shaft spinoff to Peter de Villiers…
9 Dec 2009, 18:45 pm
@Transformation: in 1999 deon kayser was the only quota in the semi-final v australia i think but i guess racist mobsters like wp and hondo will blame him for that defeat as well.
9 Dec 2009, 18:47 pm
@SpringbokSarah: i know sarah, i’m sure there are dvds of that final on sale somewhere, do urself a favour and watch the game…
9 Dec 2009, 18:48 pm
@WP Till I Die: hk
9 Dec 2009, 18:49 pm
@Valkyrie: lol…you know those cats…
9 Dec 2009, 18:50 pm
WPTID, hahaha! starring Pieter die snor De Villiers as Shaft! Cue music and close up of moustache being groomed.
9 Dec 2009, 18:58 pm
This could only happen in sa where a convicted terrorrist aka nelson mandela(for those who don`t know mandela was convicted for treason (correct me if i am wrong)for planning to blow up the houses of parliament with the parliament in it)can be let out of jail and become a state president.I hope they show mandela and the rest of his cohorts with the plans to blow up parliament in the movie because i am amazed at the amount of people i have spoken to who do NOT KNOW what mandela was imprisoned for.If you want to know log onto MANDELA RIVONIA TRIALS.
9 Dec 2009, 19:01 pm
@Valkyrie:
deon will best be remembered for that tackle on robbie fleck.
pissed myself for about 2 weeks at that look on fleck’s face
9 Dec 2009, 19:02 pm
Blueboy, have you actually read the Rivonia Trial transcript? I doubt it.
9 Dec 2009, 19:02 pm
Blueboy, its a pity he didnt succeed. One mans terrorist other mans freedom fighter. Now YOU go log onto stormfront.
9 Dec 2009, 19:04 pm
@blueboy: what you conviniently fail to tell us is why would he “attempt” to blow up the parliament buildings? what was going in that parliament that he disagreed with so much?
9 Dec 2009, 19:04 pm
Don’t feed the troll, boys.
9 Dec 2009, 19:05 pm
WPTID, jy weet ek wonder somtyds oor ons nasie. Eish
9 Dec 2009, 19:08 pm
Slappes, hulle se bou ‘n nasie…maar hoe bou mens ‘n nasie met sulke ouens? Dis makliker om te bewys Suzie bestaan
9 Dec 2009, 19:13 pm
WPTID,
ja met die moroon kan jy vokkol bou nie.
9 Dec 2009, 19:38 pm
@charo: loved deon’s tackling.thinus linee was another favourite for me when it came to crunching tackles.nothing nicer to see a bloke getting smashed on a rugby field…just ask fdp in the currie cup semi.
9 Dec 2009, 19:50 pm
Minki is myne. Ek sal as sy sal. Waars daai lastige klein liberalis nou?
9 Dec 2009, 20:40 pm
Anybody know where you can get T-shirts printed in Cape Town?
9 Dec 2009, 21:10 pm
@SpringbokSarah: well if anybody does know please drop me a line… email, fb, twitter, whatever
10 Dec 2009, 07:45 am
Tinus Linee? must be the worst Bok backline player .. k@kker than Earl & jorrie … quota X10000
10 Dec 2009, 07:48 am
BTW …. Andre Joubert & Joost played the final with broken bones …. they survived, surely the All Black could’ve still performed being a bit naar. They aren’t such big pisgatte, are they?
10 Dec 2009, 12:51 pm
@blueboy: Are you serious?
10 Dec 2009, 12:58 pm
@rossoneri: He’s living in an alternate Universe where President Nelson Mandela was not awarded the Nobel Peace prize, where a Clint Eastwood movie called Invictus has not been made, and where there is no Mandela statue in Trafalger Square…
10 Dec 2009, 13:04 pm
@Heavens Game: LOL! Yeah and Santa Clause and the tooth fairy exist.
10 Dec 2009, 14:38 pm
I just dont see Matt Damon pulling of Franscois Pienaar, I need need to hear his accent first (which Americans always struggle with) second he is way to small to be playing a rugby player never mind Pienaar. I honestly cant see Damon pulling this character off, maybe the overseas market wont see it but I think as Souf Afriken ouens we will see Damon is te klein…
Now why dont they make a movie about James Small…that would be intertainment baby…
10 Dec 2009, 18:17 pm
@Jedi-Shark: Watch the trailers and samples from the movie on youtube – I think he has nailed the accent – He does look a bit small though, but then so does the Reuben Kruger actor. Freeman doesn’t have Madiba down so well – but I suppose he is acting as a character and not a charicature (hope the spelling is correct)
14 Dec 2009, 12:48 pm
Hi to all my S.A.friends.Being a kiwi I have to say at least rugby is the winner at the end of the day..Great to see a movie with the rugby stars of both sides…Jonah.Francois..etc..Gee it wasn’t that long ago either…
14 Dec 2009, 12:51 pm
Of course Matt Damon played rugby briefly in another of his movies recently too so he is familiar with the game…
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