Review of Invictus (2009) by James O — 07 Jul 2012

So much hype about how inspirational the film was, I expected big things. This was so drab and below average. Very little inspiring speachifying here, just boring. It doesn't draw you into the moment.

Meh, the whole film was patronising nonsense. As if some white secondary school children would have to ask their teacher who that is as Mandela's police cordon goes past on the day he left prison.

As if a white policeman would have to ask what blacks meant by 'Madiba'. The whole film was total bull, made for Hollywood. Gotta say the guy playing Merhtens was a dead ringer and some of the attention to detail in the rugby scenes was decent.

Then someone makes a ludicrous comment like the SA forward saying, 'wow we'll have to tackle better than England' in a deadpan voice. Come on. The film really is patronising, lacks inspiration and was a weak effort that weakly sold itself off the back of Mandela's reputation.

The whole film was a joke.