“Mandela As An Excuse To Make Sports Movie”
Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela is an opportunity. “Invictus” is a missed opportunity. As everyone knows, Mandela became president of South Africa after being released from prison there. “Invictus” begins as Mandela is released and focuses only on his first efforts as president to help the national rugby team win the 1995 world cup. In short, Mandela is used as an excuse to make a sports movie.
With Clint Eastwood directing Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as a rugby player, you might expect Eastwood’s usual “outside-the-box” approach to filmmaking. But Eastwood does the one thing that I hate most in sports movies. The action is shown in slow motion. And that has become such a sports movie clichÈ over the years, probably since back to “Rocky” decades ago.
What is the appeal for filmmakers or moviegoers in having the sports action scenes in slow motion? Millions of people watch live football on TV, or actually attend live games. The excitement of these events is in the real-time action. And in the case of “Invictus”, this story is based on real events. Everyone knows the outcome. So the slow motion effect doesn’t serve to heighten the level of suspense. It’s just showy for the sake of being showy. And streching 10 seconds into 5 minutes is just boring.
To be fair, “Invictus” does have a lot of great moments. Especially a tense scene in which a 747 jet flies dangerously low over the stadium. And of course, Freeman’s performance is spectacular. But I just find it impossible to completely love sports movies that resort to slow motion effects when the real-time action is far more effective. Note to Hollywood: Please stop it.
DVD Double Feature: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank all won Oscars back in 2004 for a masterpiece of a sports movie called “Million Dollar Baby”. Eastwood reluctantly becomes coach and father figure to Swank who is training to be a female boxer. With a screenplay by Paul Haggis, this film is one not to be missed.
