Friday, December 6, 2013

42 Review

Brooklyn, we go hard.
I am not particularly a big fan of sports dramas. It is mostly because they are too formulaic and overly sentimental, but this movie is a notch above most of them. 42 is about the life story of Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), the first African American baseball player to break the color line in Major League baseball.

The film focuses on Robinson’s first couple years in the big leagues. Robinson is recruited by Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) to come over from the Negro Leagues to try out for the Dodgers. He spends his first season playing for the Montreal Royals, but the next year he is signed to the Dodgers and the rest is history.

Boseman turns in a fine performance as Jackie Robinson and really portrays all of the quiet strength and internal struggle that Robinson went through during his first major league baseball season. Boseman absorbs the role and you really believe that he is Robinson himself. Harrison Ford gives one of his most lively performances in years as the over-the-top baseball manager.

The director of the film, Brian Helegand, best known for penning Oscar winning films like L.A. Confidential and Mystic River does an adequate job with the film, but you can definitely tell that he is a better screenwriter than director. Events that sound epic on paper do not necessarily translate great on the big screen. It seems like Helegand wants every scene to be Oscar worthy when it is really not. The film does look good and he does direct the cast well, but it seems like at times he plays it too safe.

Plus while I liked Boseman’s performance, I would have liked to see more of Robinson’s background. For example, we never see Robinson’s days at UCLA and only see a tiny part as his days playing in the Negro Leagues.

42 is a good film, but it could have been a great one. It plays it too safe and is too old-fashioned for my tastes. If the film went a little deeper it could have been an early Oscar contender. However, 42 is still an earnest and respectful tribute to one baseball’s most iconic figures and will satisfy audiences.


42 - 4/5

No comments:

Post a Comment