Pass me my Oscar ballot...I need to make some checks

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2013)

Maybe I'm getting soft or maybe I was just hoping to find some better films in 2013 than I did in 2012. I didn't hand out a single 10/10 in 2012...no kidding. Closest I came was Les Miserables and Life of Pi. Now this year this will already be my second 10/10 and I'm proud to give it to them both. My first was Evil Dead...a vastly different movie than this. I suspected I would enjoy 42, what I didn't expect was to be completely and utterly blown away by it. How many times have we seen this type of film? How many times have we seen films that fought racism and showed us a time in history when people struggled to be equal? For that matter, how many times have we seen an uplifted baseball film? Well it doesn't matter because this one is so beyond inspirational, it is brilliant and breathtaking and gives us at least two of the best performances I have seen in months if not years. 42 had me in tears at every turn, it had me cheering and laughing and crying and feeling every gambit of emotion. It is impeccably created and made with such heart that it just reeks of film greatness. It is so incredibly entertaining but this film is so much more than that. This is the type of brilliantly made film making that teaches us, inspires us and reminds us of history.
There are two performances in this film that if they don't get Oscar recognition I'll be thoroughly surprised but then the Academy doesn't much care for this type of mainstream film no matter how good it is. Chadwick Boseman in basically his big screen debut is astounding and mind blowing as the one and only Jackie Robinson. Boseman is passionate and real and just gets to you in every way and he just comes across as a baseball hero. He looks the part, plays the part and is brilliant in the role. There is no justice if he doesn't get recognized for this role in Award season somewhere. Second only to his performance is the amazing Harrison Ford. I've loved Ford for years as many of us have but this was something I did not expect. Lately, in his films he's seemed to show his age and not have the same heart he once had but this was stunning. He is riveting as Branch Rickey. This is his big opportunity to win an Oscar because he just nails this role in every which way. The chemistry with him and Boseman is perfection and both men bring history to life and knock it out of the park (pun intended.) The supporting cast were also excellent. Some of the best performances to watch for are Nicole Beharie as Jackie's devoted wife, Christopher Meloni was really good as Leo Durocher, Ryan Merriman, and Lucas Black are worth mentioning in small but pivotal roles as Jackie's team mates. Andre Holland is really good but sort of underused as Wendell Smith. I suspect that a historical figure like Smith could almost handle his own film and they didn't want him to over power Jackie Robinson's story. Holland still did a great job in a small role. Alan Tudyk had a fairly small role in the film but man...if small roles make an impact, this guy made it HUGE!! Tudyk is infuriating and captivating as Ben Chapman. Easily the best scene in the film (and the most eye-opening and disturbing) is the scene with Tudyk's Chapman mercilessly taunting Boseman's Robinson.
Brian Helgeland wrote the script and helm-ed the film and he is a talented guy as a write. He has written some of the best horror/Sci-fi and drama and he clearly knows how to exact emotion from his audience. His directing shows less experience but 42 proved he knows how to translate his skill as a writer onto the big screen. I was annoyed by the trailers of this film because of the inexplicable and unnecessary rap music playing over the clips of 1940's Baseball. Much to my relief, that was strictly to bring in the mainstream crowds. The film stays true to its time period and will immerse you in the good, bad and ugly of the 1940's sports world. I'm not an overly emotional movie watcher but when a movie really pushes my emotions to the limits, I have great respect for it and 42 did that and more. It is a baseball movie of course but there is so much more to it than that. This is about pioneering civil rights and what a player like Jackie Robinson meant to people. I encourage you to see this and tell others to see it because this is a powerhouse of a movie that was not given its just rewards when it was released. Yes it did "well" but this is beyond just good. Bravo. 10/10