Invincible
(2006/Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/C+ Extras: B Film: B
Rivaled
only by Superhero genre films these days are Sports films. That does not make them all good, but at a
time when things are so bad for the U.S., it is no surprise that people have an
interest in seeing good people win and triumph over all kinds of
adversity. Of course, that does not make
every film good and makes laypersons not familiar with film wonder if that is
all the studios can come up with. Yet,
both cycles continue to produce hits, even surprise hits, the latter of which
is exactly what happened with Ericson Core’s Invincible.
Taking
place in the 1970s when the Philadelphia Eagles were a wreck of a team, an
overhaul was taking place and many went out to try for the team, a team that
even its own fans will boo if they mess up.
One man who was interested was a bartender named Vince Papale, who had
the then-perceived handicap of being age 30!
God forbid!!!
Papale
(Mark Walhberg, pulling off a good performance, no matter how familiar some of
his tone is here) is a good guy who loves the game and always dreamed. Still wanting to go out for the game and
hearing about the open tryouts, he goes.
To the shock of himself, his family and his friends, he makes all the
initial cuts. Then comes the final cut
and after being told he cannot do it and being harassed by young tryouts, he
makes the final cut and is an Eagle!
Of
course, if he did not make it, there would be no film, but the Brad Gann
screenplay is exceptionally smart and makes the story constantly compelling
with nuance and attention to detail of the working class at that time that it
makes the while film that much more palpable.
Like any good sports film, the events just keep happening and coming at
the audience without MTV editing or stupid biopic breaks. It has the kind of heart, soul and energy the
better sports films (Miracle, We Are Marshall, Glory Road) offer and will be remembered when the cycle ends as one
of the most interesting of all.
The
supporting cast is also a big plus, including Greg Kinnear as the coach Dick
Vermeil who takes the chance on Vince, Elisabeth Banks as a love interest,
Kevin Conway as Vince’s father Frank, Michael Rispoli and Michael Nouri. Oh and if you still do not understand the
title, think “in-Vince-ible”. Get it?
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is a bit more of an improvement than
usual over the anamorphically enhanced standard DVD’s 480-line version which
has some breakup and digititis issues, especially when viewed on larger
screens. Director Core is a
cinematographer (Daredevil) and
lensed this as well, using some filters along with other darkening techniques
to give the film a semi-urban character that does not always translate into a
1970s look or sports look, but works more often than not for the film. Why the DVD has these issues is unknown, but
Blu-ray is the way to go.
That
extends to the sound, with the PCM 16-bit/48kHz 5.1 mix richer, fuller and even
warmer than the standard DVD’s Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both may be favoring the front three
speakers, but this has surround moments and the use of hit records from the
time is interesting, especially when heard in PCM. When songs surface, they do not just show up
one and go away MTV style, they sometimes show up again when people play them
again on a vinyl 45s jukebox or the radio repeats it because it is on rotation
on the local Pop/Rock FM station. Though
not as clever as what Kubrick or Scorsese might do with the music and
narrative, this is more realistic in the way we might think of Michael Cimino’s
use of Frankie Valli’s classic Can’t Take
My Eyes Off You in his masterwork The
Deer Hunter (1978, reviewed elsewhere on this site).
Great
records included here are Jim Croce’s I
Got A Name, Steely Dan’s Do It Again,
Carole King’s It’s Too Late, Dobie
Gray’s Drift Away, Bachman-Turner
Overdrive’s Let It Ride, Edgar
Winter’s Free Ride, Lee Michaels’ Do You Know What I Mean and Ace’s How Long. I note these in particular so audiophiles and
fans can compare the PCM from the Blu-ray with their CD and vinyl copies. Mark Isham also turns in one of his better
scores of late.
Extras in
both versions include two really good feature length audio commentary
tracks. One has Core and editor Jerry Greenberg,
while Papale is joined by screenwriter Gann and producer Mark Ciardi on the
other. We also get a good featurette
entitled Becoming Invincible – The Vince
Papale Story showing the real life Papale in action with new interviews and
vintage footage of his classic games.
The Blu-ray offers addition access options and another featurette
entitled The Vet. With all that, the Blu-ray beats the DVD
across the board, but if you cannot play that format yet and have not seen this
film, catch it as soon as you can because it is one of the best films we have
seen in the recent Sports cycle that has been going on these last few years.
- Nicholas Sheffo
