42, 2013.
Directed by Brian Helgeland.
Starring Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford, Christopher Meloni, John C. McGinley, Alan Tudyk, T. R. Knight, Lucas Black, Andre Holland and Nicole Beharie.
SYNOPSIS:
The life story of Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey.
Every year we get at least one or two inspirational sports films about a team or a player that has to overcome some kind of obstacle in order to succeed. A lot of these particular films deal with race as the obstacle our protagonist must overcome. Sometimes it works great, like in Remember the Titans, and other times it doesn’t work quite so well, like in Glory Road. 42 is able to stand out among these kinds of sports films. It ends up being inspirational and a fitting tribute to Jackie Robinson.
The film shows us the life of baseball great Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball, as he goes from the Negro Baseball League to playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. We watch as he must overcome racism in the 1940s and go on to become one of the greatest players to ever play the game. It’s a story we’ve seen many times before so the film itself has it’s own obstacles to overcome. Director Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale) is able to get some great performances out of his actors and show us how hard it was for someone like Jackie to do what he loved most.
Even though this is a sports film there isn’t as much baseball action here as there could have been. However, the story here is more about the racial struggle rather than the game itself. There are many scenes that are hard to watch including a scene where Jackie Robinson, who is played wonderfully played by semi-newcomer Chadwick Boseman, breaks down after being ridiculed by an opposing coach. The film is able to lighten things up every now and again with some very humorous moments, most of them coming from Harrison Ford who gives one of his best performances in quite sometime.
Along with Boseman and Ford the supporting cast here do a great job too. Christopher Meloni (Law & Order) is quite funny in his scenes as manager Leo Durocher, Lucas Black (Sling Blade) gives one of his better performances as Jackie’s teammate Pee Wee Reese and Nicole Behari (The Express) steals most of her scenes as Jackie’s wife Rachel. Alan Tudyk (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) plays the coach who ridicules Jackie during a game and it is certainly a character we’ve never seen him play before. John C. McGinley (Scrubs) deserves mention here too as the commentator of the Dodgers who has some great commentary during the games.
While there weren’t many things I had problems with in 42, I did have one or two gripes with the film. One thing in particular I wasn’t a fan of was the character who narrates the film. A character named Wendell Smith (Andre Holland), who is a sports writer that helps out Jackie, is the narrator of the film and it felt odd that he would be the one to narrate. It seemed like it would have been better suited for Jackie or Harrison Ford’s Branch Rickey to narrate the film rather than someone who was a prominent character. Another thing I thought was very unnecessary was a small subplot involving a young boy who is a big fan of Jackie Robinson. About halfway through the film they abandon that character entirely only to bring him back at the end and say he was someone who went on to become another African American baseball player. That just felt like it didn’t need to be there.
42 is a familiar film that we’ve seen many times before. Even though it’s predictable the film is very inspirational and a fitting tribute to the great Jackie Robinson. Harrison Ford gives a knockout performance and we get a breakout performance from Chadwick Boseman.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Jake Peffer
Originally published April 16, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
