Invictus (2009)
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AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Delivered with typically stately precision from director Clint Eastwood, Invictus may not be rousing enough for some viewers, but Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman inhabit their real-life characters with admirable conviction.
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Cast
as Nelson Mandela
as Francois Pienaar
as Jason Tshabalala
as Linga Moonsamy
as Hendrick Booyens
as Etienne Feyder
as Brenda Mazibuko
as Nerine
as Mary
as Mr. Pienaar
as Mrs. Pineaar
as Eunice
as Zindzi
as Minister of Sport
as Springbok Coach
as Rugby President
as Boer
as Johan De Villiers
as Captain of 747
as Co-Captain of 747
as Face Painter
as Presidential Guard
as Presidential Guard
as Presidential Guard
as Presidential Guard
as High School Boy
as Presidential Guard
as High School Coach
as Jessie
as Johannesburg Cop
as Johannesburg Cop
as Local Cop
as Springbok Manager
as Mandela's Doctor
as Minister of the Environment
as Mrs. Brits
as Mrs. Cole
as Mrs. Dlamini
as New Zealand PM
as NSC Firebrand
as Prison Guard
as Staff Member
as Staff Member
as Team Crew
as Team Crew
as Sipho
as Township Kid
as Township Kid
as Township Kid
as Trophy Wife
as TV Announcer
as Helicopter Pilot
as Chester Williams
as Jonah Lomu
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Critic Reviews for Invictus
All Critics (233) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (177) | Rotten (56) | DVD (9)
A 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.
What Eastwood has done is to assemble a cast of American and South African actors and allow them to create something moving, exciting, and improbably true.
Freeman-as-Mandela is an actor all dressed up with no place to go -- at least, nowhere we didn't already know he was headed.
The story of how Nelson Mandela chose the white-supported national rugby team, the Springboks, to become a symbol of national reconciliation is uncharacteristically optimistic for Eastwood.
[T]he epitome of Hollywood filmmaking in ways both good and bad: uplifting, overlong, ambitious in scope but simple in moral vision, well-crafted but inured to irony.
A work of flawed majesty.
Audience Reviews for Invictus
Freeman brings Nelson Mandela to life in an exceptional performance indeed but this barely ordinary drama - inspiring as it may be - fails to match the greatness of its real-life character due to Eastwood's poor directing choices and blatant political naiveté.
Super Reviewer
A moving film but not as powerful as I anticipated. Nevertheless, it does have an important message and reminds one of the great heroism and uncertainty of post-Apartheid South Africa. Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman both give noteworthy performances.
Super Reviewer
Sports movies usual have social/political redemption/justification as a subplot and Eastwood's entree here is no different, with racial equality thrown in on the side. You know the ending from the very first. And so its up to his leads to carry the weight of "its more than just a game" ballast, which Freeman and Damon admirably do w/o a problem. I learned a bit about rugby, and South Africa seems more of a welcoming place now, so its "mission accomplished!".
Super Reviewer
Invictus Quotes
| Nelson Mandela: | Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon. |
| Rugby President: | Die |
| Rugby President: | Die. |
| Nelson Mandela: | Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon. |
| Nelson Mandela: | You criticize without understanding. You seek only to address your own personal feelings. That is selfish thinking. |
| Nelson Mandela: | Times change, we need to change as well. |
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