It's been 66 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. It was an amazing accomplishment brought on by some unlikely support and a lot of unneeded racism. That's why it's too bad that the first full-blown Hollywood biopic about this great man, entitled 42 isn't very, well...good. Although it has some excellent performances and tells an amazing story of endurance and perseverance...writer-director Brian Helgeland (A Knight's Tale) turns this into an amazingly thin subject for a feature film.
The film stars Chadwick Boseman as Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey...the Brooklyn Dodger GM who took Robinson under his wing. Along the way...Robinson gets screamed at by racist Phillies team manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) and even has some racial conflicts with his fellow teammates.
Boseman, Ford and Tudyk are all terrific here. Boseman shows the anger and fear in Robinson as he has to listen to the crowd booing him. Ford plays Rickey with an edge which is a surprisingly good choice. Tudky---usually an actor known for playing a very likable character plays his role with tons of audacity and a mean-spirited personality. Chapman is definitely the hardest role to play in the film, especially in today's society and Tudyk nails it. As well---John C McGinley as the legendary announcer Red Barber and Christopher Meloni as the scandalous Leo Durocher turn in brilliant performances.
However, the first 40 minutes of the film are incredibly boring as are the last 20 minutes. The middle hour is pretty good but none of the film goes anywhere near above a typical sports film. It follows all the regular cliches and is way, way, way too syrupy. It gets to the point where all the schmaltz just gets to be too much.
42 is not a terrible film by any means but it also never gets into the real depths of what made Robinson a truly great man. It is far too long and does not make a convincing argument for Robinson's achievements and that is an awfully big disappointment.
(3 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for thematic elements including language)
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