InvictusClint Eastwood's latest is also among his worst, if not his outright greatest failure of the decade. I am generally a fan of Eastwood, which makes Invictus all the more painful. He has seemingly assembled all the right pieces together: a great historical figure in Nelson Mandela, a stellar cast (Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon), and a script that both works on its own and as an allegory for the current political climate here in America. And yet, none of it works. Eastwood is intent on oversimplifying the whole affair, to the point where Mandela comes across as naive and hopelessly lost in his new found position of power because all he cares about is rugby. We do not see him in any context except that which pertains to his dream of uniting the nation through the Rugby World Cup. Did Mandela actually do anything else, political or otherwise, in this period? Invictus would lead you to believe no.
The acting is unexceptional, Damon especially. Freeman is never bad, but he is not given a whole lot to work with. It's a shame, too, because Freeman seems like he makes a good Mandela, from what I can tell. But perhaps the most cringeworthy thing in this film, and the moment that made this go from simply bad to among year's worst, is the way in which it suddenly invokes 9/11 imagery for no reason. Now, in the right context this sort of thing is completely justified, but not here. As the final match of the World Cup begins, we get an out of nowhere scene in which a pilot informs his crew that he accepts full responsibility for what they are about to do. We watch as he pilots his plane towards the stadium. The plane just barely misses the stadium, and we see that the bottom of the plane has a message of congratulations written on it. This scene adds nothing to the film, aside from unnecessary tension and a sense of discomfort. What was Eastwood trying to say with this moment? Nothing, I suspect, and the film itself amounts to much the same thing: nothing.
The Lovely BonesAfter four years out of the limelight, Peter Jackson is back with The Lovely Bones. The last time he adapted a beloved book we got Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, lightning does not strike twice, although I suspect at least part of that is due to the source material. Never outright bad, The Lovely Bones does very little right, either. The story of a young girl who is murdered and watches from heaven (or is it?) as her family and her murderer go on with their lives. At the film's center, Saoirse Ronan is quite good. She is shaping up to be quite a skilled young woman, and I look forward to her future projects. Beyond her, though, little is worth mentioning, as the other performances are largely forgettable. As the murderer, Stanley Tucci feels like an amalgamation of killers we've seen before, never hitting any new notes. As the grieving father, Mark Wahlberg plays every scene in wide eyed wonderment. The rest of the cast don't even have enough screen time or character development to warrant much thought. Which is a shame, as they seem like they could have had real weight given the right director.
And indeed, Jackson seems ill-suited for this kind of story. He once might have been able to handle the smaller scale of the story, but his output this decade has steered his sensibilities towards spectacle and bloat. His vision of heaven (or is it?) rings false, largely due to the tacky and obvious cgi used. These images also overwhelm the human story at this film's center. By film's end, you feel slightly exhausted instead of emotionally satisfied. This story probably would have worked far better in the hands of an up and coming director who could make the picture smaller and more intimate, streamlining the novel's narrative in a more meaningful way. As it is, it simply doesn't work.
Up in the AirThis film is the real deal. After stumbling in a big way with Juno, Jason Reitman is at the top of his game here, as is George Clooney, who hasn't been this good in years. Up in the Air follows Ryan Bingham as he travels the country firing people for companies who can't seem to do it themselves. When he learns that he may himself soon be out of a job, he starts to question what it is that he wants out of his life. Clooney really makes you start to believe that his lifestyle would be fun, which is why he is the perfect man to play this role. When his walls start to come down, and he starts to second guess himself, we are right there with him. A lesser actor would have had us against him from the beginning. The rest of the ensemble are equally strong, with Vera Farmiga in particular standing out with her feisty and unexpectedly nuanced performance. Reitman has proven to have a knack for collecting the perfect actors for his movies and utilizing them correctly.
A great film is more than the sum of its parts, and such is the case here. I could go on and on about the great acting across the board, the smart and timely script, the way certain themes weave in and out of the story in subtle ways, and so on 9and I probably will in my best of the year countdown). But really, it is the film as a whole that is so wondrous. Everything in the film is there to serve everything else in the film. And as I think about this film, and as I write about it, I can't help but think how close to a masterpiece this film is. It absolutely needs to be seen.
