Invictus' Review

Plot: Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) was released after serving 27 years in prison and became elected as the first ever South African President in 1994. His country was on the age of racism and hate due to the apartheid. He then tries to unify his country using the language of sport. He rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team, called Springboks, and tries to motivate their captain - Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) - to win the 1995 World Cup.

The Good: Clint Eastwood prevails once again with Invictus (which means "Unconquered") and its motivating story of hope. The movie is not a total Biopic of Mandela like it would appear to be. It's also an underdog story of how the Springboks triumph and conquered all odds and went on to win the world cup. And it's also a political message trying to prove that forgiveness is indeed divine and it is the key to end the civil war in his country. Both performances from Freeman and Damon were solid, and especially for Damon, he proved that he is among the best actors out there. More like Remember the Titans, the moral for the movie is straightforward enough.

The Bad: Too much rugby. Moreover, most of the rugby scenes were kind of repetitive and there were no climax moments. It would be much better if they could cut some time from the rugby matches and replace it with more training scenes from the Springboks and show the audiences how they improved in their game. It would make more sense rather than just showing us how jogging in the morning and more working out could lead them all the way to win the world cup.

Overall: 8.8 / 10