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Invictus

EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Invictus reviews
74
6.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 60 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Anthony Peckham
John Carlin (book)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 11, 2009

Running Time: 134 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language

Starring Morgan Freeman, and Matt Damon

Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match. (Warner Bros.)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It’s an exciting sports movie, an inspiring tale of prejudice overcome and, above all, a fascinating study of political leadership.

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88

USA Today Claudia Puig

Invictus, which is Latin for "unconquered," gives the poem several meanings in the context of the film. It also applies to Eastwood, who, as one of America's greatest storytellers, finds enthralling tales and fashions them with finesse and an indomitable spirit.

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88

New York Post Lou Lumenick

This movie depicts an unlikely intersection of sports and leadership in ways that manage to be inspiring and insightful without ever becoming schmaltzy or preachy.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Clint Eastwood, a master director, orchestrates all of these notes and has us loving Mandela, proud of Francois and cheering for the plucky Springboks. A great entertainment. Not, as I said, the Mandela biopic I would have expected.

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88

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

What makes it special is Eastwood's ability to artfully and concisely tell a story, and Morgan Freeman's wonderfully understated turn as South African President Nelson Mandela.

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88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Eastwood's modest approach to these momentous events shames the usual Hollywood showboating. In a rare achievement, he's made a film that truly is good for the soul.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

How is Invictus as a sports movie? Let's just say that its lump-in-the-throat climax is predictable, but that doesn't mean it's less than earned.

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80

Time Richard Corliss

Damon, beefed up for the occasion, makes Pienaar a stalwart yet courtly figure. Freeman infuses Mandela's speeches with the same gentleness and gravity he's brought to his numerous God roles and the Visa Olympics commercials. But the real deity here is Eastwood, still chugging away handsomely in his 80th year.

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80

Variety Todd McCarthy

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.

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80

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Instead of a thriller, war movie or western, the director has turned out a stirring drama about South African leader Nelson Mandela, blending entertainment, social message and history lesson.

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80

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A win-win situation in which a mainstream feature works equally well as stirring entertainment and a history lesson about a remarkable convergence of sports and statesmanship.

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75

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It’s not a great film, but parts of it are outstanding.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's never less than worthy and entertaining, but the importance of Invictus doesn't broaden as it goes along. It narrows.

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75

NPR Bob Mondello

Freeman's Mandela, however, is pretty marvelous -- so persuasive in gesture, in bearing, in that signature mix of gravitas and twinkle, even in accent -- that when a shot of the real Mandela appears over the final credits, it's momentarily jarring to realize you've been watching an impersonation.

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75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The focus of Invictus is less on Mandela's psychology than his willpower and political astuteness.

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75

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Invictus, which features outstanding performances from both its lead actors, succeeds wonderfully on its simplest level, as a portrait of political genius.

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75

New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott

Not only does Invictus tell a remarkable story of a remarkable man, but it also illustrates how sports can be a salve to a wounded community. And that's something New Orleanians can certainly appreciate.

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75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Eastwood has crafted something that works both as a sports drama and as an examination of the birth pains of the racially unified South Africa.

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75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Damon is becoming one of the truest, most reliable actors of his generation. And Eastwood has more films in development, proving, at 79, that 79 is just a number like any other.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

As always, Freeman is a one-man charm offensive.

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75

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Freeman portrays Mandela not as a saint but as a man who knows he has the political freedom of being seen as one; it’s a majestically two-dimensional performance with glimpses of a third dimension peeking through.

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75

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It’s a simplistic, superficial approach to a real-life story that marginalizes most historical details not involving scrums and tackles. It’s also pretty effective, in spite of the gloss.

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70

Newsweek David Ansen

The wonder of Invictus is that it actually went down this way.

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70

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Freeman is so in-tune with the former South African president's persona you can't take your eyes off him.

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70

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

A mildly rousing and reasonably satisfying picture about one man's efforts to mend the rifts among his countrymen.

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67

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Invictus has an understated grace, but too often it comes across as hero-worshipy.

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67

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Narratively, we all know where the trajectory of the story is headed, thus the culminating match (nearly 20 minutes) takes up too much screen time without adding anything new to the drama.

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60

Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf

The movie isn’t adventurous, but I’m sure glad it exists.

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60

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A temperate, evenhanded perhaps overly timid film about an intemperate time in South Africa.

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60

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Like every Eastwood production, Invictus is stately, handsomely mounted, attentive to detail right down to the Marmite adorning the team's breakfast buffet, and relentlessly conventional. As a portrait of a hero, the movie effortlessly brings a lump to the throat (Freeman gives a subtly crafted performance that blends Mandela's physical frailty with his easy charm and cerebral wit); as history, it is borderline daft and selective to the point of distortion.

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60

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Anthony Peckham's script is formulaic, woodenly reverent, and devoid of real dramatic tension.

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60

Empire Ian Nathan

Eastwood hits all the right notes in exactly the right order, but it’s his least personal film for a while.

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50

Slate Dana Stevens

As a non-South African, I can't speak to the accuracy of the movie's racial politics, but they feel insultingly vague.

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50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The result is earnest, admirable and more than a little dull -- a pedestrian movie about a remarkable subject.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 60 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nikko C. gave it a1:
WOW!! Clint Eastwood's incomparable thirst for willful ignorance strikes again.... The real heroes of the 1995 world cup final were and always will be the All Blacks.... So much pressure (the only thing clint does get right) was indeed on mandela and the south africans that the heirachy of the SARFU and some government officials conspired to poison the all black rugby team. The food (at an 'event' organised for the team) was poisoned by a lady calling herself 'Suzie' - this is fact. To this day AB's coach Laurie Mains is haunted and bitter about it. Look at any footage of the game and you can see how ill the team was - jeff wilson visibly throwing up on the field as were others etc etc etc.... Lomu looked fine? He was..... he did not eat the dinner. But 12 of the team did. Yet somehow, courageously, the New Zealanders survived almost 100 minutes of rugby, away from home, in front of a crowd that only a decade earlier had not allowed Maori or people of colour to play for the all blacks in their country because they are hateful racists...and almost won it in extra time. Trust an american fool to see the story he would like to be true - and then make it as it suited him. When asked by a kiwi interviewer about this, clint interrupted and said, and I quote, "I have never even heard of this..... Iand suppose pigs are flying around the moon...".... What!!!??? He is not only a denier, but he had not even heard of it? That is appalling. It is general knowledge, unless you are, like a crooked cop, finding the evidence to suit the story you have in your head. I am genuinely disgusted. What else didn't happen Clint? The holocaust? Slavery? Hang your head old man.

Dec M gave it a2:
Very disappointing, no real tension in the film, glossed over the facts of the time in South Africa. Freeman was made for this role, but Damon did not stand out at all. Really expected a more rousing performance, no stand out speech or team boosting outbursts. The actual games looked terrible as with the stadium, Eastwood shouldn't do sport, particularily sport he doesn't know. Think this was too much aimed at an American audience that knows nothing about South Africa or rugby.

Captain Obvious gave it a2:
A ham-fisted, Disneyfied, plodding, schmaltzy attempt at a film. The rugby scenes were very poorly done and lacked any excitement. 2 stars out of ten for the efforts from Freeman and Damon in the face of a terrible script and directing. Yes, we all got the message because the film was completely lacking in any sort of accuracy or subtlety. "Yay! Everyone's friends again. Kumbayah!"

Eggy G. gave it a10:
Grandious epic on leadership and humanity. Very inspiring, uplifting, dramatic...just incredible. Old champ Clint Eastwood is just getting better and better.

Daniel P. gave it a9:
Superb acting, deeply touching story, well-told. Loved the raw feel of the film, almost like and Indy from Sundance.

Scott S. gave it a9:
Excellent, moving yet understated look at a remarkable man and his bravery. Go see it.

Jason J. gave it a0:
They cheated and gave the All Blicks food posening. Shame on Cint for making such an untruth. its like making a movies where the enigma code was cracked by the yanks in WW2.

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