42

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Christopher Meloni, Lucas Black, Alan Tudyk, Nicole Beharie, T.R. Knight, John C. McGinley, James Pickens Jr.
Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Sport
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) enters major league baseball as the first African-American player. He faces great racism and adoration as he breaks baseball's color barrier.

Review:

Tim: I suppose I'm a sucker for biopics, if they're done well. 42 is a very interesting look at one of sport's greatest heroes, Jackie Robinson. His is such an important story, because it involves athletics, race, culture, history, and morality. It's one of the great sports stories of all time, and the great Robinson deserves to have his story told on screen for a new generation of viewers, many of whom are quite unfamiliar with the specifics of his story. Robinson is depicted in a very, very positive light (I wanted a little more of the dark side, the flaws), and this is a fascinating look at his life.

One of the things I took from this story that I didn't expect was how Robinson was "chosen" by Branch Rickey. I always assumed Robinson got his shot purely based on his own talents. While it's true that he was an incredibly talented ballplayer, any number of African-Americans could have broken the color barrier in baseball (at least initially, I doubt if very many could have survived). Robinson might have gotten lucky by being chosen to be the first, but he certainly seized the opportunity in a way that few men could have done.

The film features an interesting look at Robinson's life. The movie balances out the dramatic elements with the sports elements quite well, although I do believe it leaned a bit towards the dramatic. From this film, I gained a better understanding of Robinson as a man and what he had to go through as he broke baseball's color barrier. The scenes depicted the horrific racism he had to put up with, and how he had to do it while maintaining his calm, are quite difficult to watch. I can't imagine how he found the internal fortitude to do what he did. I really appreciated that look at him. The one aspect of the film that left me confused was his talent at the game. Was Jackie Robinson a great baseball player? I'm not sure how good he was, because the film really doesn't touch on it all that much. He had talent, but where does he rank? I'm guessing he was good, but not exceptional. I would have liked to know more about his ability.

The cast is mostly good. While I didn't love Chadwick Boseman's performance, he did a good job of capturing the spirit of Robinson. I'm not ready to declare him to be a great actor yet, but he played the part adequately. I loved that Harrison Ford actually had to do some real acting here, and showed a slight range- I feel like the latter part of his career features him phoning in way too many performances, so it was nice to see him called upon to actually act here. Christopher Meloni and Lucas Black both gave good performances, and I loved seeing John C. McGinley and James Pickens Jr. in small roles (too small, unfortunately). T.R. Knight was a nice addition, although having a cast made up of mostly television actors felt a little odd to me.

I found 42 to be a very interesting, entertaining look at the life of Jackie Robinson. I really felt connected to the story, and was informed while I was being entertained. This is a very good film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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