Invictus Reviews
Cinemania
Invictus tells the tale in the standard Hollywood way
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
ComingSoon.net
Is it schmaltzy? A little. Is it good anyway? Yes. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel but it understands what it is and that the best place to put its focus is not the rugby field.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
DCist
Invictus hits all the right formula notes of both the biopic and the underdog sports movie, making it impossible to hate. He also hits those notes so insistently and with such a lack of grace that he makes it a difficult movie to like.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.2/10
NewsBlaze
A narrative divide that never quite comes together, despite some truly uplifting moments. And seems unable to decide whether it wants to be a sports movie or a political biopic. Invictus: Or rather, 'I am the rugby captain of Mandela's soul.'
Groucho Reviews
Despite hewing fairly closely to the facts, has trouble seeming truthful. Practically everyone behaves like an allegorical symbol rather than a person, a problem the script anticipates and acknowledges but only feebly attempts to solve. [Blu-ray]
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Seanax.com
... less a film than a memorial: handsome, stately, well-meaning and dramatically inert.
TheMovieReport.com
At its very essence a classically Hollywood, ultra-populist, inspirational underdog sports movie--and a well executed one at that.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Cinema Signals
This amalgamation of inspirational themes cuts a new notch on Eastwood's well-used viewfinder.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Movie Metropolis
...a polished, well-made, and unaffectedly inspiring motion picture about an inspiring individual and an inspiring victory.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
CNNRadio
Not one of Eastwood's best, but at times the story is quite moving. And, you can't help but cherish the performance by Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. Nicely done, Morgan. Paul Chambers, CNN.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
Philadelphia Weekly
Freeman's Mandela is deeply flawed, single-minded when it comes to his job, and has a way with one-liners. In short, he's an Eastwood hero.
Salt Lake Tribune
The half that's good involves watching Morgan Freeman hitting not only the cadences of Mandela's oratory but the Gandhi-like calm of the man.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Top CriticA noble and compassionate work that in its later scenes manages successfully to invest our emotions in the triumph of an important - if overlong! - sporting victory.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Film4
It's possibly Damon's most impressive major role to date.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Times [UK]
Invictus may be a rather cheesy way into the story of South Africa, but in the end you're glad it's there for a new generation to whom the words "Free Nelson Mandela" are history.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Guardian [UK]
A monolithic sporting saga that seems content to pose on the podium, lulled by the belief that its subject matter provides inspiration enough.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Little White Lies
Invictus is undone by its own overindulgence, turning a unifying moment of celebration and clarity into an underwhelming piece of cinematic cliché.
| Original Score: 2/5
Digital Spy
Freeman's performance is a fine tribute to Mandela, perfectly capturing his grin, posture and unbreakable upbeatness.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Heat Magazine
As you'd expect from Eastwood and this cast, it's got quality written all over it.
| Original Score: 3/5
Sky Movies
A battle waged in the hearts and minds is always likely to be far more inspiring than explosion-heavy scuffles in the street, but as shown here, that doesn't necessarily translate into captivating movie magic.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
