Hidden Figures (2017) Review

Hidden Figures is the 2016 biographical drama directed by Theodore Melfi, written by Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroder, and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons.

The Plot
Hidden Figures tells the story of 3 African-American women working in the NASA space program during the Space Race in the 1960s. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) must work calculate the launch of Friendship 7, supporting John Glenn to become the first American astronaut to completely orbit around the Earth.

The Positives
This film features an amazing ensemble performance by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae. All three of these actresses gave great performances, including the supporting actors such as Kirsten Dunst and Kevin Costner.

This is a very well-directed and enjoyable biographical film about 3 integral women that was under-credited for their work of an extremely significant event in American history. I enjoyed its more bright and high-spirited tone in its setting because, usually with films like this, I'm used to more of a darker and moodier tone than this. Therefore, I found it kinda refreshing to see a more light-hearted approach. Also, I liked its approach to feminism. A thing that I worried about the most while going in was that this was probably going to be one of those types of boisterously loud movies that hammers down a feminist message down the audience's throats and maybe shame men or something. However, it takes a fairer approach to proving the ability of women. The theme that I loved the most was that prejudice delays human progress because these women are trying to do work but because of racial segregation, they probably would have done a lot more in that short amount of time. It just makes me think of how much progress we would have made back in the day and how fast technology could have come much sooner decades ago if we stopped segregating each other back then, and I love it. It's just so good.

The Negatives
Although I thought the score was nice from the great Hans Zimmer, I felt that some of the music choices were odd. You could argue that some of the songs that were placed stylistically added to the movie, but I just didn't feel that some of the songs belonged there because it didn't really fit with the setting. Don't get me wrong, music that is from a different era from the film's setting can work (Django Unchained for example) but I didn't think it worked for me here because this is a biographical film and this is supposed to accurately capture the feeling of the 60's and that feeling is a undercut when it plays this music that's more modern than the 60's.

Conclusion
Overall, this is a very solid film. I can see teachers showing this film off to their students in history class and others simply enjoying this movie for what it is. It has great performances from everyone in the film. Solid direction, cinematography, and a nice score.

Score: A-