42

Only two numbers have been retired league-wide in professional sports: #99 by the NHL and, as we read at the end of this film, #42 by MLB. I was excited for this movie but upon seeing it, I realized that I got my hopes I little too high. That is not to say that "42" was a bad movie. I was entertained. I just was expecting something special from a cinematic standpoint. The acting was fine and the script has nothing wrong with it. Maybe a different director or different choices in the casting of this show might have given me what I was hoping for. Another element that would have made this film really special is the how the central conflict was handled. The theme of racism was portrayed more on the realistic side of the spectrum instead of on the dramatic. I have nothing against a realistic portrayal of the struggles that a man went through but a hero becomes more heroic when you add a few extra cliffs and crevasses to the mountain he is climbing. Jackie Robinson was a hero by the end of the film but I wanted more of a payoff.

Probably the main piece of criticism I have about "42" was that it was hard to distinguish all the white players on the Dodgers. I would have liked them to be more unique so as to increase the entertainment value of the show. Their similarity made it hard to keep track of the story. The film does have rising action, which is important. Jack is speechless when he is offered a chance to play for the Dodgers but doesn't understand the importance at first of controlling his temper. He is a fighter by nature. Rickey tells him that the best way to get revenge is by way of the score sheet/scoreboard. That is where it will hurt the most and where it will bring about the most change. It was important that the character of Rachel was in this movie. It made the movie a lot more personal and sentimental. My favorite funny moment in "42" is Jack's reaction to the true reason for leaving town in the middle of the night. Being a fighter means that he has no fear, except from being cut. I also liked the scene with the menacing white man in Florida who turns out to be an admirer. Jack must not only win over people outside his team but on it. The petition sequence shows that the team is divided over how they feel about Jack but Leo brings something important to the team's attention: they shouldn't be concerned about playing with a black man but instead be concerned about their own performance on the field. This change is going to happen whether the team likes it or not and that will bring along more players just like Jack that the white players will have to compete with. The "stripes like a zebra" line is taken from the real Leo Durocher by the way. When the new manager comes along however, there are too few bonding scenes between him and Jack. That was needed for the story. I also feel that there needed to be more bonding scenes between the players and Jack. The ones that were in the film were well done thankfully. The Ben Chapman scenes were all well executed on screen. It leads up to the best scene in the whole movie as Jack leaves the dugout and vents in anger. I love the sudden appearance of Rickey who reminds him about the power of stats. I also like the Harold subplot. Harold at first opposes a black man in baseball not because he is racist; he is afraid of how everyone else will react. In the end, he catches the fire of what Rickey is trying to do and finds that he has sympathy for Jack because of the Chapman incident. The film has other inspiring scenes such as when Jack is spiked. The other players want to take revenge but Jack says, "Get him out." He appears to have learned the power of the score sheet and is passing that lesson along. In another scene, Jack is beaned but he remains on the ground while pandemonium breaks out all around him. I like that because Jack now has his team to fight for him. "42" however needed some kind of montage to show the success of the team as the season progresses. I know I am requesting a lot of cliché sports movie moments but they are cliché because they work. One noteworthy moment in the story is when Pee Wee brings in the threatening letter. It is so powerful when Rickey empties that file drawer and the subsequent scene when Pee Wee visually shows support for Jack in front of his home crowd in Kentucky. One of the best parts of the script is Rickey's true reason for signing Jack. Just when I was wondering about Rickey's motif as I watched the film, Jack would ask Rickey that very question. The first answer about the dollar value of Jack's talent satisfied both Jack and myself. It becomes apparent however by the end of the movie however that it can't be the true motif. Otherwise, any other general manager would have given up on this. It turns out that Rickey as a religious man and lover of baseball is on a mission of reparation. As a player, he did nothing and so he seeks repentance. I love the final faceoff between Jack and the pitcher who hit him earlier in the film. The Pittsburg pitcher truly does not believe that Jack can play as well as the other players in the league. Jack calls on him to prove it by throwing him an honest pitch with heat. Jack comes out on top in the way Rickey taught him to.

The acting in this show was decent. Chadwick Boseman was a good choice because we needed an unknown for this role. The last person to portray Jackie Robinson on the big screen was Jackie himself in the 1950 film "The Jackie Robinson Story". A famous actor would have been a distraction and Boseman did well. So did Harrison Ford but the performance wasn't perfect. There was nothing wrong with Ford's acting but another actor more suited to play this kind of character should have been chosen. I have seen and heard Alan Tudyk in many movies and he was great as Chapman. Writer/director Brian Helgeland did some honest work in this show but he did a much better job with "A Knight's Tale". Oscar-nominated cinematographer Don Burgess has done many films that I have seen and enjoyed. I found no problem with his work on "42".

This movie has the best opening weekend from a financial standpoint for a baseball movie in the history of Hollywood to date. The movie was fine and will entertain a lot of people. I was entertained myself but I wanted more I guess. I suppose the realistic depiction of the central conflict as opposed to a dramatized version of it was something that got in my way. I suppose I am more of a "Remember the Titans" kind of moviegoer. To echo the analogy that I used earlier, the filmmakers created a daunting mountain that Jack had to climb but they could have added a few more visible dangers on it for the story's sake. However, I am just being picky. This was a simple biography of Jackie Robinson.

3.5 Stars