Mark Wahlberg proves strong in ‘Invincible’

In theaters

INVINCIBLE, directed by Ericson Core, written by Brad Gann, 108 minutes, rated PG.

The new Ericson Core movie, “Invincible,” is based on the true events that led 30-year-old Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg) to leave behind a life that leaned toward failure and disappointment for a life that underscored hope and promise – and not just for him.

As Core explores in this formulaic yet solid film written by Brad Gann, the success achieved by Papale, a substitute teacher and bartender struggling to make it on the south side of Philadelphia after his wife leaves him, wasn’t just necessary for him. It also was critical for his friends, all blue-collar men who came to live vicariously through Papale, as well the city itself, which at that point needed to get behind somebody who embodied its best elements.

The movie is set in 1976, with the nation steeped in the throes of economic uncertainty, the energy crisis gearing up, factory workers striking, and the memory of the Vietnam War still too close for most to have had time to heal.

Enter Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear), whose first year with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles was something of a test, particularly since the Eagles were coming off an embarrassing previous season.

With Eagles fans more than happy to criticize the team, Vermeil’s idea was to toss at least part of the solution back to them. He decided to hold open tryouts, thus allowing anyone a shot at being part of a losing team – or perhaps a part of its solution.

Urged by his friends to try out, Papale decides to go for it. Self-doubt plagues him, but the reality is that he is a gifted natural athlete who is right for the game. His considerable charm is that he doesn’t know it, which is attractive to Janet (Elizabeth Banks), an unfailing Giants fan who timidly starts a romantic relationship with Papale just as he rises publicly through the ranks for a spot on the team.

Following Gavin O’Connor’s 2004 film, “Miracle,” which was based on the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s spectacular 4-3 win over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Games, Core’s challenge was to create a movie that gripped and moved us in spite of being hindered by a well-known outcome. He and Gann succeed. Following O’Connor, they also aren’t eager to give the movie over to inspirational melodrama. Instead, they respect the story and the audience’s memory of it, only plucking our heartstrings toward the end, when they’ve earned the right to do so.

Wahlberg and Kinnear also prove instrumental in keeping the schmaltz at bay. Wahlberg, in particular, is very good, his lined face a mask of inward turmoil that seems ready to collapse as the pressure to succeed mounts. If Vince Papale was the heart and soul of Philadelphia during the mid-1970s, Wahlberg brings those same qualities to “Invincible,” a movie served considerably by them.

Grade: B

On DVD

AKEELAH AND THE BEE, written and directed by Doug Atchison, 118 minutes, rated PG.

For all its manipulations, Doug Atchison’s “Akeelah and the Bee” is a fine movie, one nicely suited for families, with a central performance by Keke Palmer as 11-year-old Akeelah that is terrific.

On many levels, the movie is the flip side of “Invincible.” Footballs aren’t hurled here, but words are, and they can prove just as deadly if not handled correctly.

As Akeelah, Palmer is a South Central, Los Angeles, lass with loads of potential but little belief in herself that she can realize that potential. It’s her teacher who recognizes that Akeelah is a knockout speller, then her principal (Curtis Armstrong), and finally the man who becomes her mentor, the Zen-like Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who agrees to guide Akeelah on her new path, even though he’s struggling with his own.

If the idea of watching a movie about tweens and teens competing in the mother of all spelling bees sounds dull, then know that the execution of that idea isn’t dull. Winning a spot at the competition is an achievement, which Akeelah’s single mother, Tanya (Angela Basset), doesn’t see at first. She’s too busy being angry – angry that her husband was shot dead, angry that one of her sons is flirting with joining a gang. Her eldest son does have his act together, and that’s exactly what Tanya is determined to see through for Akeelah, who Tanya believes has more important things to do than to enter some silly spelling bee that presumably will take her nowhere.

Or so she thinks.

What the movie gets exactly right is the idea that for some, realizing their first major, public accomplishment has nothing to do with scoring a touchdown, getting on base, landing a difficult jump or finishing a marathon. For someone like Akeelah, correctly spelling a difficult word can prove the early zenith of their young lives. This, along with Palmer’s winning performance and the movie’s tight sense of community, makes the underseen “Akeelah and the Bee” an enjoyable, necessary movie, indeed.

Grade: B+

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.

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