Quick Review of Invictus -- X

I originally wanted to do a full complete review, but I got lazy. Sorry readers. Anyway here goes.
Invictus -- BLOCKBUSTER (almost CONTENDER)

Let me just say what this movie is NOT. It is not a movie that
a) you want to watch after taking your finals and want to relax
b) you want to just shut your brain off and watch mindlessly.

Also, if you have a problem with a movie that is overly preachy, then you'll definitely have a problem with Invictus. This movie is all about sending us a message, it has so many inspirational lines that it can get an "inspirational quotes from Invictus" post by itself.

But if you like to see movies with inspirational quotes that sends a message across, then this is a must see. When I was watching it, I expected to be bored for the first 30 minutes, but that didn't happen -- Invictus went by with a good pace, I felt myself absorbed by it the moment I started watching. Having only watched two Clint Eastwood movies (so far) including this one, I can't say if this is one of his best works or not, but in my humble opinion, it is far better than Gran Torino, the other Clint Eastwood movie I've watched. Although Clint Eastwood was great in his role as Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood) in Gran Torino, I couldn't help but feel bored because many of us don't have much to relate to in Gran Torino.

Invictus, however, has the upper hand in this case, since like the movie, we have elected a president of color who promises us change, and even after a year of taking office, we still have doubts on whether our president could complete his job. Also, like Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman), President Obama also places tremendous emphasis on hope -- our president can deliver inspirational speeches like no other president we've had in a quite some time. Clint Eastwood was definitely smart to direct a movie that makes its release at this time.

One short coming, in my opinion, was the focus of rugby in this movie. I understand that Clint Eastwood is trying to use Francois Pienaar's (played by Matt Daemon) leadership as captain as a metaphor for leadership of a president, but... seriously, captain of a rugby team vs. leader of a nation that is divided??? Seems a huge stretch to me. The ending (I won't give it away) was also a bit of a disappointment to me, because it seems too unrealistic. How much can you really change in a month?
We are all humans, and thus all have our limitations.

But then again maybe I'm being cynical. Maybe I need to become inspired by some of the inspirational quotes in the movie, because "we must all exceed our own expectations." (yes, that is a quote from the movie).