There are 3 things always
in common with Clint Eastward's movies: 1) he gets good/great performances out of his actors, 2) his movies are
always 20-30 minutes too long and 3) they always just miss. "Invictus" fits all 3 points.

Both Morgan Freeman and
Matt Damon along with Adjoa Andoh, Jason Tshabalala, Tony Kgoroge and all the supporting actors give
spot on performances. Damon, who might get a supporting actor nomination,
handles the Afrikan accent as if he
has always spoken it, in fact to the point that someone who is not use to it
will have difficulty at times understanding it. Freeman, who will get a best
actor nomination, presents, by the screenwriter, Anthony Peckham, a holier than you Nelson Mandela,
makes you want to see the other side of the man and, hopefully, that picture
will be made some day with Freeman once again playing the role.

To someone unfamiliar with
the game rugby can be a little hard to follow though you do learn you can pass
the ball only sideways and backwards unless you are going for the goal, I think!
Like most pictures that revolve around sports, especially a losing team, you
know where the movie is heading though a lot more is hanging on this than, say,
Rocky winning a fight.

It is with getting to know more about the characters
like Mandela or Pienaar, Matt Damon's role, to feeling with what they are really
dealing with, besides a sport, that both Eastward, as the director, and.
Peckman, the screenwriter, fail the audience. There isn't that burst of joy,
that wanting to shout, "Hurray!", at the end of the film that there should
be.

Invictus is 2 hours and 14, unnecessary,
minutes long. The editing certainly could have been sharper and a few extraneous
scenes cut to help the picture run tighter, faster and hold the audience's
interest.

The last couple of years it seems EaStward's
pictures  get nominated in the best picture, best actor and best supporting
actor categories almost automatically and I am sure this one will too. The
picture holds your interest while you are watching it but it  is forgettable once
you leave the theatre.