Blu-ray Review: Emotional ‘42’ Has Power But Lacks Depth

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CHICAGO – “World’s not so simple any more. Guess it never was.” I wish “42” wasn’t so simple either. Because the story of the amazing accomplishments of Jackie Robinson sure were anything but simple. He was not only chosen to be the man who would break the color barrier but he was asked to do so peacefully, never displaying the anger that 99 out of 100 men would in the same situation. Called names, treated despicably, and generally abused, he channeled all of his justifiable rage into being not just the first black baseball player in Major League Baseball but one of the sport’s best. It makes perfect sense that Warner would release the very successful biopic of his story on the same day as MLB’s All-Star Game. It is one of the sport’s most historically-important stories.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

And yet “42” doesn’t really feel like a biopic. I wish we could have seen what Spike Lee would have done with Jackie’s story (the director was working on a project about him for years) and maybe we still will because this one feels incomplete. We don’t really get to know Robinson outside of the window of time in which he didn’t just break the color barrier, he stole home while doing it. I wanted a more complete picture of Robinson’s life, including before Branch Rickey chose him to be one of the most important sports figures of the century and even after. And I wanted more of him and his family off the field during those downright dangerous days. Too much slo-mo, not enough character.

And yet those slo-mo sequences are undeniably effective. “42” is both a powerful film and a dissappointing one, and yes it can be both. I was moved by what I saw, and lead Chadwick Boseman’s understated performance was underrated in theaters, but still wanted more. That’s how powerful Jackie Robinson’s story is — even a surface-level approach to it like what we see in “42” can be a moving testament.

The special features on “42” are surprisingly slight given the massive success of the film (at almost $100 million, it’s second only to “A League of Their Own” in the history of films about baseball). There are three brief featurettes but no commentary tracks and little of what I really wanted — archival footage of the actual man.

42 will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 16, 2013
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Synopsis:
In 1946, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, took a stand against Major League Baseball’s infamous color line when he signed Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) to the team. The deal put both men in the crosshairs of the public, the press and even other players. Facing unabashed racism from every side, Robinson was forced to demonstrate tremendous courage and let his talent on the field win over fans and his teammates - silencing his critics and forever changing the world by changing the game of baseball.

Special Features:
o Stepping Into History
o Full Contact Baseball
o The Legacy Of The Number 42

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com