This past week has been very tough for me emotionally, mentally, and
academically. I'd like to thanks my friends and family for their love
and support and advice in this difficult time. It truly does mean a lot
to me.
Now originally I did not have any intention of seeing this movie. I had not heard much about it, didn't see too many ads for it on TV, seen any trailers, nothing. Sure the past few days I've seen a few commercials on ESPN but that was all I had seen of it. I usually like sports movies, and after the week I had and after seeing that it's been getting a lot of good reviews, I decided to check this out. A free small popcorn coupon from AMC Theatres also helped too.
The movie is a biopic of famed baseball player Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) that focuses on his rise from playing short stop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League to being the first African American baseball player in the history of MLB playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. This comes about due to the determination of Dodgers executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) who not only sees potential in Jackie as a ball player but also sees an opportunity for money to be made and a chance to finally break the color barrier in baseball. By being the first African American baseball player Jackie has to go through a lot. Despite the constant racism and discrimination that comes his way from teammates, pitchers, umpires, policemen, townsmen, opposing team managers, and the Jim Crow laws Jackie keeps his head calm and turns the other cheek. It doesn't go through his entire baseball career with the Dodgers, just through his rookie season.
I found the movie to be very good and inspirational. The baseball scenes are a lot of fun, though a few are a little difficult to watch. The sappy inspirational music works without getting too sappy. The movie is shot well. There are two performances I want to highlight, and a third that bugged me throughout the entire movie. Chadwick Boseman (who I've never heard of before) is great as Jackie Robinson. Alan Tudyk ("Serenity"/Firefly, Transformers 3) is the manager of the Phillies who during a game shouts out extremely racist things at Jackie while he is at bat. The things that came out of Tudyk's character's mouth during that scene genuinely shocked and offended me. And the worse part is that's how people did act back then, and how sadly some people still act today. By far the best scene in the movie, when Jackie gets out and goes down to the clubhouse and smacks his bat repeatedly against the wall, venting and releasing all the frustration that had been building on the field but he could not release on the field. The performance I had a problem with was Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey. Whenever he popped onscreen I was quietly groaning to myself. I know Harrison Ford can be a good actor, but whenever he spoke the dialogue seemed to be very clunky and unnatural, though a few one liners did manage to make me chuckle and he does have one good speech towards the end of the movie.
Ford's performance and the first hour of the movie were the main things I disliked about the movie. Usually I don't check my phone at all during a movie though I found myself wanting to check my phone several times during the first hour, eventually checking it once. The first hour or so is a little on the slow side. But thankfully it picks up. I like baseball, but I don't follow it professionally. Comparing it to other baseball movies I've seen, it's far better than that Clint Eastwood baseball movie 'Trouble With The Curve'. 'Moneyball' took me a few viewings to finally appreciate and call it a great movie. 'Field of Dreams' is a classic. And then there's 'Major League'.....which is a whole other wild thing entirely (see what I did there?).
Overall, even if you aren't a baseball fan I do recommend this movie. It's a very inspirational story that for the most part is well acted, well shot, but could use quicker pacing. And less Harrison Ford.
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