Historical biopics based around race relations are, under the wrong guise, the sort of combination made in schmaltzy hell, so I won’t be counting the 42 chickens before they hatch. That being said, this first preview for Brian Helgeland‘s look at the groundbreaking life of Jackie Robinson — an annoying preponderance of temporally incongruous Jay-Z notwithstanding — isn’t so bad at all. Maybe even good.

The period design looks pretty spot-on, I quite like the color palette & shot composition, and, judging just from a snippet of footage, it almost appears as though Harrison Ford is… acting again? What? Chadwick Boseman is possibly the biggest variable here — I’ve never seen him act before, and that’s said after watching this preview — but, what the heck, he’ll get the benefit of the doubt. After a good introduction, all of 42 gets one.

Watch the trailer below (via Apple):

Synopsis: Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures are teaming up with director Brian Helgeland for “42,” the powerful story of Jackie Robinson, the legendary baseball player who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers. “42″ will star Academy Award(R) nominee Harrison Ford (“Witness”) as the innovative Dodger’s general manager Branch Rickey, the MLB executive who first signed Robinson to the minors and then helped to bring him up to the show, and Chadwick Boseman (“The Express”) as Robinson, the heroic African American who was the first man to break the color line in the big leagues.

Also starring Christopher Meloni, Ryan Merriman, Brad Beyer, Judy Tylor, Jon Bernthal, Nicole Beharie, and T.R. Knight, 42 will open on April 12th, 2013.

Going off this, does 42 appear to be in good shape?