Invincible

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2007)

A sports movie is not a genre, it's a formula. Try to argue that if you want, but how many sports movies have you seen where the hero isn't victorious in some way. The hero has either learned something about himself/found true love or he wins the big game. Simple as that. So with that in mind most sports movies are predictable from the start, but that's why we watch them; to see a good ol' underdog story. So if you're the least bit sentimental, or better yet if you like the sport, you're in a goldmine. If you're a pretentious film snob who is not at all open to a by-the-numbers Hollywood movie; look elsewhere.
Invincible is a by-the-numbers Hollywood movie. Snobs: keep scrolling. It's also a Disney movie. Ouch. Two strikes right there. Snobs: you were warned. Does it have a paper-thin script? Yes. Does it have poorly fleshed-out characters? Yes. Does it have about a dozen too many shots of a lone Mark Wahlberg walking the streets at night? God, yes. Was there a moment every two or three minutes that I shook my head at for how poorly it was executed? Yup. Is it chock full of clichÃ©s? Yes. I'll stop asking questions now. But damn did Invincible get me choked up once or twice. Mark Wahlberg is a very likable actor, and while he doesn't have much to work with, he's just as likable as ever and he's good enough to root for. Even if the film does everything as we expect, in this case we want to expect the expected.
*** out of ****