Somehow, only quite recently — a couple of years, compared to the fact he's been doing it for decades — I realized Eastwood was directing movies. I took him for granted as an actor, it surprises me how many movies he also directed. Anyway, "Invictus": Quentin Tarantino declared, while going through his top ten movies of 2009, he hadn't seen it, but greatly anticipated it. Having loved "Million Dollar Baby" (which, by the way, I was about to mention in my previous post, now that I think of it, but thought better not to), I expected quite something. Thus, I should have been ready for a slow start (especially after noticing the over two-hour runtime!). But to be truthful, the pace just kept picking up throughout the whole movie. Like the previous movie I reviewed, only one single word falls to mind: solid.
What I did like was the shift from Mandela biopic to epic sports-victory movie. The emotions felt real, and I sure hope they haven't botched the South African dialect; unfortunately, I cannot tell myself. The "bodyguards meeting", "tea with the president", as well as the "kid with police in front of the stadium" scenes were all quite strong and heartfelt. I enjoyed those a lot.
In hindsight, Eastwood's "Changeling" was quite something; maybe my bar is set too high? Anyway, I will have to watch "Gran Torino" as soon as possible — it has been reccomended to me twice already; once a good friend of mine declared it would become my new favourite movie. Let's hope my expectations aren't out of reach this time around!
