42

Directed by Brian Helgeland ("A Knight's Tale") on a budget of $40 million with distribution through Warner Bros. Pictures; "42" is the feel-good biopic about famed African-American major league baseball player Jackie Robinson and his break into the major leagues of baseball and his trials to overcome racism. Upon the movie's opening weekend, it broke records with $27.3 million on opening weekend, a record-breaking number in Baseball movie history. What is it about this movie that everyone loved that they had to see it?

In 1945, MLB Executive Wesley Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), makes the scandalous decision to break the race barrier and allow an African-American to play baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Looking through a roster of players, he chooses Kansas City Monarchs shortstop Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), a temperamental yet good-natured black man with a love for Baseball. He agrees to play for the Montreal Royals, but must promise to keep his cool despite the slanderous hatred he receives from opposition; not only from the viewing public, but from his own team mates.

As a biopic, the movie covers the major events reported in Jackie's career, this includes major stints such as the Ben Chapman incident (played here by Alan Tudyk) to even actual lines of dialogue said between Jackie Robinson and Wesley Rickey.

So then why does this movie hold 77% on Rotten Tomatoes?

Perhaps it's because the movie is too endearing and familiar for the more hardened sports movie fan?

Perhaps it's because it downplays the more brutal backlash against Jackie's career, namely the opposition by the KKK?

Or perhaps it's too wholesome and sentimental about it's portrayal of a sports legend?

Your guess is as good as mine because I personally enjoyed the movie.

Boseman gives a very down-to-earth and moving performance as Jackie, showing the confidence he holds for himself and the pain on his face as he has to avoid losing his temper. Ford is the real show-stealer here. He gives a very poignant performance to the role, one that will make any Indiana Jones fan ask "is that really Harrison Ford?" The rest of the cast do what the screenplay calls for them to do. I'm not entirely sure if they're completely faithful to the people they're portraying from real life but regardless, they give sympathy when the script calls for them to give Robinson sympathy and they're funny when it calls for comic relief.

I don't claim to be a sports fan and most information I know about Jackie Robinson, I had to research to understand his life and his career, some parts of it were omitted for the sake of pacing. The focus was on him as a baseball player overcoming racial hostilities, which is, admittedly, pretty inspiring and motivational. 

Solid casting and a well-paced story are the major selling points for the movie, ones you shouldn't miss out on. It is a shame though this movie couldn't come out sooner in the year for it to be eligible for Academy voters.

Final Rating: 3.5/5