42: A Movie Review

I'd like to talk to you all about “42”; a movie about Jackie Robinson's rise to stardom. I'll start off with the things I liked about this movie. I loved the cinematography, even the opening shot is just gorgeous. There's a dark field in Kansas city where the Negro League baseball is being played. The shading and camera angles of the various baseball fields were beautiful. It really is beautifu. Another thing I really enjoyed was the acting. I thought Chadwick Boseman did a good job as Jackie, and he really looks like a young version of him. The best thing about the cast is Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. He steals every scene he's in. He has some fairly funny moments that the whole theater laughed at. Another thing is the humor, I thought it was all pretty well done and the one recurring joke was pretty funny.

I'd like to discuss something else. I'm sure some people are wondering whether or not the baseball in the movie is played realistically and for the most part it is. There's maybe one or two scenes where it seems a little unlikely but it never goes Roy Hobbs on you.

Ok, so now to the bad parts. My biggest gripe with this movie is I feel like it didn't do enough with its running time. There were no less than 3 pointless scenes in the movie. The one in particular that irritated me is when Jackie's wife is going to one of his games and she's holding their child and the babysitter walks in. Jackie's wife gives the babysitter some directions and leaves. They don't talk about it again and the babysitter isn't even so much as mentioned again.

So I'm sure you wondering if you should the see the movie. In short? Yes, you should. Despite its flaws I really, really enjoyed it. So did my friend who accompanied me. Yes, there were some weird scenes and pacing issues, but between the good performances from almost everyone involved and the excellent cinematography, I feel like the pros outweigh the cons. It's definitely a movie you can enjoy whether you're a baseball fan or not. So, yeah: go ahead and check it out. I liked it and hopefully you will too.