The revenge thriller is such a common plot that it deserves to be raised above sub-genre and simply become a genre. Most revenge thrillers are about a seemingly weak man, rarely is it a woman, who after failing to get the right people, i.e. the cops, to stand against a menacing threat, takes the matter into his own hands. The only thing that changes in these movies is the actor. Mel Gibson has done a lot of them: “Mad Max”, “Payback”, and most recently “Edge of Darkness.”
Well, the latest actor is Michael Caine as “Harry Brown.” Now this isn’t the first revenge thriller for Caine. In 1971 as Jack Carter he chased down his brother’s killers in “Get Carter.” The difference between the Carter of 1971 and the Brown of 2010 is that watching Brown might make you cry.
“Harry Brown” plays more like the British version of Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino.” But Caine can act. I know, I know, some of you hold Clint Eastwood up on a very high pedestal. I do too. He is an amazing filmmaker, minus “Invictus.” But the man can’t act. He plays one character. That’s all he does.
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Matt Damon was nominated this year for an Academy Award for his role in Invictus. That’s right Invictus. Probably the worst film he’s ever done and before you say anything, I have seen Stuck on You. Now, I’m being a little harsh. Matt Damon isn’t to blame for Invictus. I’d say Clint Eastwood is but I don’t really think he directed it. Honestly, I think Morgan Freeman snuck into the editing room when Clint was away and created the mess that is Invictus.
I think Clint is too nice a guy to leave his friend hanging, so he went ahead and attached his name. Now I’m probably giving Clint too much credit. I just don’t want my fantasy destroyed. The one where I believe that Clint Eastwood is a capable filmmaker who can do no wrong. (You like how I call him Clint like we’re best friends? Well we are.) Enough about Invictus. I’m here to talk to about Green Zone , the latest partnering between Matt Damon and Bourne director Paul Greengrass.
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In a rush to fit in as many Oscar nominated films as possible before Sunday’s Academy Award ceremonies, I’ve been cramming a movie into every free moment I have. Today happened to be a free day. I had nothing going on. I mean I have a ton of things I should be doing but movies are far more important.
This year I will have seen more nominated films than ever before. My final tally, if everything goes as planned, leaves me only having not seen 10 films and those are mostly the short documentary, a few foreign films and The Messenger. The tragedy there is my girlfriend is to blame for that. (Well as of last Friday she’s my fiancée.) I was going to see The Messenger months ago but she told me to wait for her. But did we see it? No and now the only person nominated in one of the acting categories that I haven’t seen is Woody Harrelson. Thanks my love.
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Invictus tells the story of South Africa during the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Before you read any further, be aware that there will be spoilers.
The film opens with the release of Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, from Robben Island in 1990. Then jumps to the South African election of Mandela as president in 1994.
This was the first election where the black South African population was able to vote. It was a turning point in South Africa history. From there we move quickly to Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, and the Springboks, South Africa’s Rugby team.
It’s 1995 and South Africa is hosting the Rugby World Cup. The Springboks are so bad that they wouldn’t even make it into the competition if they weren’t given automatic entry as the host nation. We follow Mandela and Pienaar as they try overcome the odds and win the World Cup.
From the previews and the pedigree of people involved I expected a much better film. Clint Eastwood was at the helm and he has grown into a great director with films like Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven, one of my all-time favorite westerns. But Invictus is such poor storytelling that I was afraid he’d lost his touch.
Morgan Freeman has been waiting to play Mandela for years he has said, which makes it so much more heartbreaking that his great performance was lost in a poorly scripted film.
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