Invictus

February 24th, 2010

I’ve seen this movie a couple of times. In many ways it’s actually a great film – and if Nelson Mandela is even half the man he is portrayed as in the film – how could anyone fail to be in awe of what a truly great man he is – one of the 20th centuries greatest I’d say.

The film look good, the script is well written, and the acting from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon is as good as you’d expect. Matt Damon especially has the South African accent licked! As someone who happens to know a little about rugby, it’s great to see a man’s sport being introduced to the American public – no pseudo armour in this sport!

It’s a great story, which I am pretty sure is largely based on truth… But, it’s Hollywood, so falls down in some major respects. I usually like Clint Eastwood’s movies, and I did this – but felt it was spoiled by an implied impending assassination attempt – topped of in the most appalingly cynical manner by a low flying 747 (fully loaded with passengers) doing a low flying pass of the stadium with a good luck message painted underneath. It’s an understatement when I say this appeared absolutely ludicrous.

You can forgive some minor accuracies when it comes to a sport few Americans understand, let alone know of. But really, this ridiculous ploy with the aircraft designed to tug at the 911 heart strings of the audience – it’s pretty unforgivable – and for me spoiled what would have been a much better movie without this nonsense…

…boys toys!

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