Cheesy, corny, and bland. That's the best way to describe Clint Eastwood's latest venture in the director's chair, Invictus.

After Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) was elected President of South Africa in 1995 he turned his attention to the South African rugby team the Springboks in an attempt to unite the country, which was heavily divided between the white and the black population. The Springboks were a team made up of all white players (except for one) and was led by their captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) at the time. The team rarely won and were hated by the black population (who would cheer for their opponents to show their disdain). But Mandela saw their potential and believed that he could bring the country together if they won the World Cup.

By getting close to Pienaar, Mandela inspired him and got him on board with the plan. The team trained harder than ever, made public appearances in the slums so the young black kids would cheer for them, and started winning games (including, eventually, the World Cup). In the background Mandela had the important task of making South Africa look like a progressive country in the eyes of the world, yet according to the film, he was only interested in how his rugby team was doing back home during these visits. Mandela's people, and daughter, also thought he was wasting his time focusing on the team. All worked out in the end and South Africa became a united country (according to the film).

An actor's job is to make you see past them (and their celebrity) and only see their character. Freeman failed at doing this in his portrayal of Mandela. He'll most likely get an Oscar nomination just because he's Morgan Freeman but I'm going on record as saying he doesn't deserve it. I could not get past the fact that it was Morgan Freeman pretending to be Nelson Mandela with a bad accent. Damon did a better job as the beefed up Pienaar, and his South African accent was more believable than Leonardo DiCaprio's in Blood Diamond, but he mainly mumbles his way through the dialogue in a nonsensical effort and comes up flat everywhere else.

Eastwood has made nothing more than a fluffy, feel good sports film. If I wanted that I would go see The Blind Side. Sure, he throws in some mentions of Mandela's dark past in prison but he only touches lightly on the tension between the two races -- which is the real meat of the story and should have been told in a serious film. Even the rugby matches are boring and uninspired and the way the stadium was constantly shot to make the audience feel an assassination attempt was coming had no place in this movie (this isn't The Parallax View!).

To be fair the audience at the screening did applaud the film at the end. And it's not that Invictus is a bad movie. It's just cheesy, corny, and bland.

** out of 5 stars

Rated PG-13
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Official Site IMDb

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

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