Review of "42"

I recently had the opportunity to watch "42", the new biopic centered around the opening moments of Jackie Robinson's Major League career. Despite the fact that it was a rather enjoyable and somewhat historically accurate, I found the movie to be somewhat underwhelming because it could have been so much better than it was.

Going into the movie, I was very well acquainted with the historical account and overall cultural significance of Jackie Robinson's ascent into the major leagues. This was because I had read a book entitled Jackie Robinson: Baseball's Great Experiement. The book, written by Jules Tygiel, basically recounts in painstaking detail the rather complex and detailed process that took jackie Robinson from barnstorming in the Negro Leagues to Major League baseball playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is considered by many to be the most complete historical account of his transition.

I will first speak on what I did not like about the film.

Though the film did have strong performances (I will speak on that later), I found the movie to be underwhelming for a few reasons. Though it meant well, I found the film overreaching, overdramatized and sentimentally directed. I felt like so many moments in the film were specifically crafted to evoke some sort of sentimental compassion from the viewer. Almost every single scene in which Robinson participates is needlessly amplified and over-directed. His every action in this film is weighed down by this overbearing sense of historical gravitas. Very little in the movie feels completely organic and unforced.

I also didn't like the direction the film took in portraying Robinson. Brian Helgeland, the film's director, was so concerned in making a squeaky clean and inspirational movie that he decided to portray the man as some sort of mythological saint-like being, void of any flaws or shortcomings. I found that portrayal to be somewhat disingenuous and it did the film a disservice. I believe that in better hands the movie would have taken a more multi-layered in depth look at Robinson. Instead of making an honest and truly remarkable movie, Helgeland chose to make a simplistic, accessible and easy digestible one.

My last gripe about the film is its historical accuracy. Though the film did the majority of its facts straight, it omitted very large portions of Robinson's narrative and told a very watered down version of his story. The movie spent no time examining Robinson's back story or the social impact of his ascension. It's narrow focus strips Robinson's tale of some much needed perspective and made me leave the theater wanting much more.

The one thing I did enjoy about the movie were the performances of Chadwick Boseman and Harrsion Ford, who played Jackie robinson and Branch Rickey respectively. Boseman, who bears a striking resemblance to Robinson, was excellent in his portrayal of the man. He played the part well both on and off the field.  On the field he was extremely believable, and looked the part of a baseball player with great ease. As for Harrison Ford, his portrayal portrayal of Rickey seemed very awkward and stiff at first, but as the movie progressed I feel he settled into the role quite nicely. I would have liked to see them flesh out his character a little more than they did since he is indeed a fascinating character, but I was mostly pleased with Ford's portrayal of him.

Overall, "42" was a solid, although unremarkable film. Even though I think it's absolutely great to finally have a biopic of Robinson's life, his legacy could have been done better justice on film. Although it doesn't come across that way in my review, I did somewhat enjoy the film and I would probably recommend it to someone else. It's just that knowing what I knew about the man and his story, I came into the theater expecting more than what the film delivered.