Matt Damon; so hot right now. In the last 24hrs we’ve had a high profile trailer and Coen Brothers’ casting news dropped on us, both involving Damon. And now, the trailer for Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus” has been released and suddenly we’re in it up to our necks in Damon. He must work out.
The trailer, on the other hand, is perplexing. We read (an early draft) the script last week and felt like “Invictus”‘ critical (and awards) success all depended on how much Eastwood played up to the textbook feel-goodery of the Cinderella sports story. If he tacked away from cliche, he might end up with something interesting. If he directed towards it, he’d most likely deliver a soft serve, high gloss “Miracle.” But enough about the script.
On one hand, the sun-bleached look of the film in the trailer is interesting, Morgan Freeman’s reading of the poem from which the story gets it’s title is kind of haunting, and Damon looks and sounds the part (is he wearing a prosthetic nose?). On the other hand, Freeman’s accent seems to fade in and out (as does Damon’s towards the end), and from the “From Director Clint Eastwood” title card on, the music kills the drama and waters down the dialogue (especially Damon’s last line).
For more evidence of how music can drive a trailer’s potential into the ground, see Pete Jackson’s trailer for “The Lovely Bones.” [Apple]
Damon is definitely everywhere. He was also one of the best things 'Entourage' had going for it this season. His appearance in the season finale was one of the best.
I'm sorry but Freeman's Mandela leaves much to be desired. The physical resemblance is there, but it seems like he's not even trying on the accent. He sounds nothing like Mandela at all. Then again Freeman has been phoning it in for years now (literally on some occasions with voice over work).
Damon on the other hand is surprisingly convincing.
Good for Freeman for not trying to mimic Mandela's voice. If he did that you'd wind up with something like "The Last King of Scotland"
I think this looks a lot better.
But Eastwood to me is one of the truly great American filmmakers, and outside of the mess that is "Changeling," he's delivered nothing less than excellence all decade long.
that music definitely seems ridiculous. they just had to put something 'african' in there, didn't they?
The Academy has a penchant for nominating things that will have a short shelf life. In 20 years no one is going to even remember or talk about anything Eastwood touched. Unforgiven maybe, but other than that, it's all dispensable.
^ Referring to his directing career only. Seriously, think about it. Million Dollar Baby has already faded from the public's consciousness. No one is teaching Million Dollar Baby in film school. However, something like Eternal Sunshine from the same year is still being talked about and remains relevant.
Yawn
I agree with some of the other comments here, this looks like a mild effort. I mean, the cinematography looks fairly nice but we'll see how much it actually adds to the bio-pic genre.
@sam mac: did you really just say that the acting in The Last King of Scotland was bad? Both forest whitaker and james mcavoy were excellent and that includes their accents.
Last King Of Scotland is not a great movie, but the performances are great.
The accents in this sound terrible. It looks very Gran Torino, aka — very so-so like everything else Eastwood has released this decade.
I don't think he has one excellent film to his name during all the aughts. Million Dollar Baby And Mystic River just feel like films I'd watch on Cinemax. Not actively go see.
Totally agree Rod. Eastwood's directing isn't anything to write home about. Where were all you Eastwood fans when True Crime, Space Cowboys, and Blood Work came out? Uh, he directed all those too you know. And the accents do sound horrible from both actors.
The hype about this film is misplaced:
For a contrarian view, see:
http://africasacountry.com/2009/10/28/it-wasnt-rugby/