Invictus

Clint Eastwood used to be a badass. Really, this guy was awesome. He's responsible for Unforgiven, which could be the best western ever (yeah, I said it.) He also made Mystic River, a great movie that would have won a ton of Oscars if not up against the juggernaut of Return of the King. Since then, he's made a movie about lesbian boxers, a WWII double feature that was only half good, a period piece that nobody saw, and a horrible movie about racist old men and his neighbors who can't act very well. So, instead of going back to smaller movies that have worked well for him, or possibly going back to westerns where he could eventually become an all time great, he makes a period piece about rugby. Damn, what happened to this guy?

Invictus suffers most from being just plain boring. When you can explain the entire movie in a sentence, you've got problems. Don't get me wrong, things happen on screen. But if you ask yourself exactly what important events happened, you realize there weren't any. Eastwood obviously didn't read my article about how to make a good sports film, because he went against pretty much everything I said, except for not casting Dennis Quaid (thank god).

Not one character in this film has any sort of depth. It took me a while to realize that I wasn't watching Morgan Freeman's character from Robin Hood, but rather a movie about Nelson Mandela. Eastwood throws some character traits about Mandela at us, but we're just told them, never allowed to see them blend in with the character and feel real. Yes, he has good intentions and wants to unite the country, but we never see what's below the surface. At least Freeman actually does things in the movie. Poor Matt Damon was a glorified extra. He gets a few lines of cliche dialogue and that's about it. His accent was pretty good though.

Another thing I said about making a sports movie is don't make it all about the big game. Good thing this movie isn't all about winning the rugby world cup. Oh wait, it is. Well shit. All we're told to care about the whole movie is this game, not the players, not the country, but this game. Luckily the actual rugby games aren't really awkwardly shot so I have no clue what's going on. Oh wait, they are. Well shit again. At least we don't have to deal with another "slo-mo, ball in the air for the final shot" cliche ending. Wait a minute, we do. What the hell Clint?

The best way to describe Invictus is that it's a movie that never had to be made. Nothing good comes from it. It'll either be forgotten in years when Eastwood gets back on track or it'll be the movie that defined him as a mediocre filmmaker for the rest of his career. Either way, nothing good. Eastwood is in a rut right now, and I really hope he gets out because he's got an eye for making certain movies. Go back to westerns Clint, and remember, nobody cares about rugby.