Warner Bros. sent over a film on Blu-ray for us to review. Now, I have to say I was planning on adding this film to my collection before it arrived from Warner Bros. I heard that this was an amazing movie, and really almost anything that involves Clint Eastwood in some form usually is. I was not disappointed at all by this. So let's dive into some of the details about Invictus.
Invictus follows the story of when Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, first took office as president of South Africa. Mandela was imprisoned for over thirty years, before being released and running for office. When he first takes office, instead of taking revenge against those who jailed him, he focuses on bringing the people of South Africa together despite the color of their skin. He does this in an unusual way by focusing his attention on the country's rugby team. The whites love rugby, while the blacks prefer soccer. After Mandela takes office, there is a push to change the rugby team's colors, logo, and even name. By doing this the blacks would feel as if the power of the country has changed over to them, while the whites would feel as they do not matter anymore, now that Mandela is in power.
Mandela prevents the changes from happening and instead pushes the team itself to better themselves. As the team prepares for the Rugby World Cup, they go through many trials in the form of a new coach and manager, along with the stress of added responsibilities. One thing remains constant, the team's captain, played by Matt Damon. Mandela calls meetings with Damon's character to encourage him to push his team to win the World Cup. The catch is that the team is not very good to begin with. We follow the team as they better themselves and the entire country rallies around the rugby team.
Overall, I thought the film was very good. It was a great story, that could be held in the same regard as some other great sports movies. What sets this apart from the rest of the sports films, is that the story also follows the unity of an entire nation.
There are a couple of special features. Besides having a digital copy within the case of the Blu-ray, there are a couple of unique features worth watching. There is an in-depth picture-in-picture feature that has essentially video commentary as well as behind the scenes looks at various points of the creation of the film. There is also features that focus on Matt Damon as he learns to be a Rugby player, a look at Clint Eastwood's career as it spans over thirty ears, and Morgan Freeman as he meets with Nelson Mandela to prepare for the role. The last feature is a trailer for the music of Invictus.
Even though this has nothing to do with Batman, I thought this is well worth picking up. If you are a fan of sports films, this is a great addition to the genre. Since it isn't a Batman-related product, we won't give it batarangs, but we will go by the three point scale; Buy It, Rent It, Forget it.
I give this a BUY IT.
Below are the industry details as well as a trailer.
INVICTUS
COMES TO
BLU-RAY COMBO PACK AND DVD 5/18
FROM WARNER HOME VIDEO
Featuring Academy Award Nominated Performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon
Also available ON DEMAND on May 18
The Eastwood Factor Extended Version
Feature-length Documentary Narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman Arrives on DVD June 1
One Team. One Country. The universal language of sports has never spoken so thrillingly as in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus. See how the story unfolds when Invictus arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD this May 18 from Warner Home Video. From acclaimed director, Clint Eastwood, Invictus tells the inspiring true story of a leader trying to rally his divided nation around an underdog sports team.
Newly elected President Mandela believes he can bring his people, who are racially and economically divided, together through the universal language of sport. To accomplish this inspiring feat, he joins forces with the captain of South Africa's underdog rugby team, Francois Pienaar, as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
Invictus is the proud recipient of two Academy Award nominations this year for Best Actor (Morgan Freeman) and Best Supporting Actor (Matt Damon). Both Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman were also honored with Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Nominations for their performances. Clint Eastwood was honored with directing nominations from the Golden Globes and National Board of Review.
Invictus will be available on Single Disc for $28.98 SRP in widescreen format. The Blu-ray Disc will be available for $34.99 SRP.
On May 18th, Invictus will also be available ON DEMAND through Digital Cable, Satellite TV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles and it can be downloaded for rental or purchase on iTunes and Amazon Video On Demand.
Also on June 1, WHV will offer an up-close and personal look at the legendary Hollywood icon with the debut of a feature-length documentary, The Eastwood Factor Extended Version, narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman. There will be four new WHV Eastwood collections released and the world premiere May 31 Turner Classic Movies’ airing of the documentary. The Eastwood Factor Extended Version will be available as a single title for $14.97 SRP. The Eastwood collections include the Clint Eastwood Collection: a new Blu-ray box set featuring 10 films on Blu ray (BD), Essential Eastwood: Director’s Collection in both Blu-ray and DVD, Essential Eastwood: Action Collection, Eastwood Blu-ray Promotion with Blu-ray Double Features Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros. and the previously released 19-disc collection will now include the feature-length The Eastwood Factor Extended Version.
A complete list of the titles in each collection is at the end of this release.
DVD ELEMENTS
The Invictus DVD contains the following special features:
• Matt Damon Plays Rugby (trt 6:48) – Turning a Hollywood star into a rugby player.
• Invictus music trailer (trt 2:32)
The Invictus Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:
Blu-ray Disc
• Matt Damon Plays Rugby (trt 6:48) – Turning a Hollywood star into a rugby player.
• Invictus music trailer (trt 2:32)
• Vision, Courage and Honor: Clint Eastwood and the Power of a True Story (trt 100 min) – Via PIP, Clint Eastwood explains in-depth what attracted him to this important story and how he brought it to life on film.
• Mandela Meets Morgan (trt 20:00 min) – Get to know Nelson Mandela as Morgan Freeman meets with him to prepare for the film.
• The Eastwood Factor (trt 22:20) – Cutdown of TCAT's feature length Schickel documentary.
DVD Combo Disc:
• SD Feature
• Digital Copy (iTunes and WMV files)
SYNOPSIS
From director Clint Eastwood, "Invictus" tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.
Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.
BASICS
Standard DVD: $28.98 SRP
Blu-ray Disc: $ 34.99
Street Date: May 18, 2010
Languages: English, French, Latin Spanish
Subtitles: ESDH, French, Latin Spanish
Running time: 134 minutes
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language.)
DLBY/SURR DLBY/DGTL [CC]
– Clint Eastwood Collection a new Blu-ray box set featuring 10 films on Blu ray (BD), four of which are coming to BD for the first time. They are The Rookie, Kelly’s Heroes, Where Eagles Dare and Absolute Power. Also included in the Collection is Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven and Dirty Harry.
– Essential Eastwood: Director’s Collection in both Blu-ray and DVD; includes: Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Unforgiven.
– Essential Eastwood: Action Collection with Firefox, Heartbreak Ridge, Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare on DVD.
– Eastwood Blu-ray Promotion – Blu-ray Double Features with Kelly’s Heroes/Where Eagles Dare, The Enforcer/Sudden Impact and Dirty Harry/Magnum Force. Also new to Blu-ray: Absolute Power, Heartbreak Ridge and The Rookie
– Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros. The previously released 19-disc collection will now include the feature-length The Eastwood Factor Extended Version.
Posted by Dustin
MTV had the chance to talk with Matt Damon about his role in the upcoming Clint Eastwood film, Invictus. During the interview Damon confirmed that he was up for the role of Two-Face in The Dark Knight.
Posted by Dustin