42 Reviews
TheMovieReport.com
Even if it may not necessarily read on Helgeland's more surface-skimming page, it subtly yet deeply reads in Boseman's eyes Robinson's wrenching day-to-day struggle to maintain almost superhuman composure amid literally, viciously in-his-face prejudice.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
AspectRatio.us
If life-affirming inspirational stories are a turn-off, 42 is still worth watching.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5
Paste Magazine
42 delivers a powerful story, adding one more crucial piece to the puzzle that is American history. But as for a fleshed-out biopic that provides more pieces to the puzzle that was Jackie Robinson, the man? For that, you'll have to wait.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7.3/10
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)
A terrific cast helps lift it above the crowd pleasingly routine fare typical of the genre, producing a solid triple of a baseball movie.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Combustible Celluloid
It can't be argued that 42 reaches the depth and complexity of [L.A. Confidential], but what Helgeland does give us is a wonderful, huge, glossy, mythical portrait of America's growing pains.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Top CriticA square, uninventive, but detailed and stirring bio-pic devoted to the two years in an athlete's life that changed a nation.
jackiekcooper.com
With overtones of "The Natural" and "Hoosiers" this is the best movie of 2013 so far.
Full Review
| Original Score: 9/10
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Solid and heartfelt, '42' is less the story of Jackie Robinson than the story of how those around him reacted to the man who broke the color barrier for Major League baseball.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
MediaMikes
Boseman hits just the right notes as Robinson. He's not a saint. He's a man, with many of the same flaws all men have. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and he's not afraid to show them.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Laramie Movie Scope
The story is compelling. The acting is good and the historical period, including the old ball parks, are recreated very convincingly. The baseball scenes are well done.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
Antagony & Ecstasy
It manages to be something that inspirational biopics, in my experience, virtually never are: inspiring.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6/10
Atlantic City Weekly
This film reminds us that how we feel about our sports figures mirrors how we feel about our nation.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
East Bay Express
The baseball scenes are realistic, the acting is at the level of Lincoln, and the message is not overstated.
honeycuttshollywood.com
It's not easy to steal home when you've got a halo over your head but Boseman somehow manages.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6
Entertainment Spectrum
"42" is a glorious tale of staying strong and having perseverance in the face of hatred.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
tonymacklin.net
There should be a Lifetime Sports channel. 42 would be a good movie for it
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
Patheos
Perhaps not a great movie, but definitely a good adaptation of a great American story.
Film International
[Writer-director Brian] Helgeland shapes Jackie into a tested and proven American archetype: the strong, silent type.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
Creative Loafing
The subject of this competent biopic is still overdue for a comprehensive, warts-and-all movie (after all, here was a black man who campaigned for Richard Nixon against John F. Kennedy), but for the time being, this one will pleasantly do.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
About.com
42's a compelling, uplifting story about two men who deserve to be remembered.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
