Review of Hidden Figures (2016) by James S — 23 Jan 2018

I admit, I am a sucker for stories about nerds. This film opens with a young girl showing such aptitude for mathematics, she is allowed to go to an advanced preparatory school early. I. Am. In.

It's so easy to say this movie is about one thing. You could say it is about the struggle African-Amercians had to get recognized in the '60s. Perhaps it is about NASA trying desperately to catch up the the Soviet space program. Or maybe it's about the under-representation of women in fields such as science and engineering (hang on, isn't that still the case?) The truth is, the film juggles a lot of issues deftly, without sacrificing the impact of any single point.

This film boasts an excellent cast, championed by Taraji P. Henson. She shows so many aspects of Katherine Johnson, and elevates everyone she is in a scene with. Octavia Spencer is always fun to watch, and she brings he A-game here. Janelle Monae rounds out our three leads, and provides a great foil for them. Other standout performances include Kevin Costner and Jim Parsons.

Some of the directing choices were not my thing (the use of historical footage was a bit to intercut), and there were aspects that I wasn't as into as the math, computing, and literal rocket science parts of the movie, but I cannot deny how well-put-together this package is.