Friday, February 21, 2014

Movie Review: 42 (2012)


The movie "42" starring Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford. Chadwick plays Jackie Robinson, the second African American player in Major League Baseball. Robinson starts the movie playing with the Kansas City Monarchs. Robinson gets visited by a Brooklyn Dodgers scout, informing him that he has been invited to play for the Dodgers. The next thirty minutes focuses on the 1946 Baseball season in which he plays for the Dodgers minor league affiliate in MontrĂ©al. The following Spring Training turns out controversial when the Dodgers sign a petition stating they don't want to play with Robinson. As the 1947 season approaches, he gets called by Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), telling him that he has a contact for Jackie to sign. During that year, Jackie's Dodger teammates start to embrace the fact that Jackie is a teammate. Especially Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), who tells Robinson in Cincinnati (Reese's hometown), that he is proud to be on the same team with Robinson despite family members calling Reese a disgrace for playing with him. Out of all the racist mini-plots in the movie, the most symbolic one was when Phillies manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk) constantly called Robinson a "nigger" while at bat. His Dodger teammates eventually stick up for Robinson. The movie fashionably ends with Robinson hitting a home run to clinch a NL Pennant for the Dodgers. I give the movie 4.5 out of 5 stars. I praise Harrison Ford's performance as Branch Rickey, he did a phenomenal job. 

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