Invincible -movie review

Invincible isn't so much a movie as a visual love letter to football. If you are a gridiron fan it will likely touch you but for anyone else this picture is pretty empty. That is not to say the story of Vince Papale isn't worth telling. It is, in fact, almost unbelievable. At the age of 30, Papale scores a spot on an NFL team and goes on to glory with a fantastical touchdown in the team's home opener. It is one of those cases of you not believing it except it happens to be true.

Which makes Invinicible the Rudy for a new generation. It has been 13 years since Sean Astin made us cheer for the smallest underdog in the Fighting Irish. This time it is Mark Walhberg's turn to be the down-on-his-luck dreamer that scores big. Unfortunately, Invincible lacks much of the heart that makes Rudy a re-watchable late-night classic. The opening is slow and repetitive before any real football begins. The characters are broadly drawn and the film prefers to play safe with lingering shots of supposed emotion rather than develop the characters and the relationships.

What the film does offer is a wonderful series of football montages complete with slow motion clashes and bone crunching side effects. This on-the-field approach is what football movie fans will love and it effectively captures the experience of Papale himself. But these sequences are too little too late. Overall, Invincible is third string entry into the field of football films and only second-rate tale of triumph.