User reviews

This is one of those "based on true events" films that the moment you return from the theater you're going to hop on the internet and explore the story. That's a good sigh. Unfortunately, here the need to do some fact checking might not stem from all the right reasons.

Hidden Figures is an upbeat, inspiring tale about the role three African-American women played in the NASA program during the early 60's. First Katherine Johnson (Henson), our lead, a gifted mathematician and human computer trying to carve out a roll in the Space Test Group. Second, Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer), leader of the "colored computers." She wants both the supervisor title she deserves and to survive the transition to IBM's mechanical computers. Finally Mary Jackson (Monae), who is trying to overcome discriminatory policies to become NASA's first female engineer. These women must meet challenges in the workplace then return home to more struggles African-Americans were fighting nationwide.

Having the performances to anchor your character drama goes along way. Henson is solid, but Spencer is Oscar worthy and Monae's performance is part of a spectacular 2016. I will be on the lookout for more from this talent. Kudos to the supporting roles played by Ali and Costner. Beyond the highlight performances, the scenario is well worth a shot. We have seen heroes fighting against segregation. We have seen space race movies. The mix presents America at its finest and most appalling. A cute combo. The woman at the core are also very deserving of a chance in the sun. The problems creep in with presentation. The director/writer Melfi and co-writer Schroeder were clearly unsatisfied with the quiet, real nobility with which these woman conducted themselves. I cannot say if what the creators did is ethical, but the addition of obviously manufactured drama was a damning decision. This leads to some awkward trust issues. After watching some Hollywood like Johnson erupting at her boss's boss, it becomes more difficult to believe in the little things. Did Johnson really need to run a half a mile just to use the restroom? Or even the climax. On the day of the launch, did John Glenn trust Johnson's calculations over the IBM? It turns out only one of these inclusions are factual. Not the one you think, and perhaps the true story demonstrates more bravery.

I'm not going to share any more of my digging here. Others asked the same questions and the answers are readily available. The point is after I watched Hidden Figures I wanted to learn if I had been lied too. Sad, because doubts are not what stories this wonderful deserve. Beyond this major stumble, Hidden Figures is well worth anyone's time. Educational, but entertaining. Positive without preachy. Family friendly in a genuine way. At the theater, I sat next to a nineish year old who kept asking her mother questions. The daughter was interested and wanted to follow every detail. The mother gave brisk answers not wanting to miss a moment. That's a true event, I swear, and the best praise for Hidden Figures I can muster.

A well-meaning crowd-pleaser, with nice performances and a truly exceptional true story running things, that never chooses to rise above its safely formulaic Hollywood trappings.

I found this movie's depictions of such clearly bigoted white people and their Civil Rights era forms of racism (colored bathrooms and coffee pots) that never really digs into the more insidious nature of institutional racism, to be problematic. This overtly racist world feels so far removed that it almost makes it seem like racism has been solved, that it's no longer an issue.

All you have to do is be exceptional, a once in a lifetime genius, and racism won't be able to stand in your way. It suggests that black people do have to work harder and be superior in an obvious way in order to overcome, and this is never addressed in the movie. Don't be common, no one can help you then.

Tedious and not enough time spent on the space technology. Implausible in places, like when Dorothy "fixes" the computer, it would not be possible without knowing the machine architecture. The men, apart from Harrison, were made to look stupid. IBM would not send incompetent technicians to such a high profile client like NASA. Too much of a political agenda for my liking, I thought it would be a lot better, rather disappointing.

The movie made most whites look bad and all blacks look smart. That by itself, is racial, but let's think a minute about the 1950's. There weren't 20 or so Black Female Mathematicians in America during this time that could do analytic geometry,much less all in Huntsville, Al. They didn't even teach analytic geometry in Black schools back then. A real stretch was the woman picking up a book on FORTRAN and after reading it made an IBM computer work when Techs from IBM couldn't. That is so insulting it made me laugh. By the way, where are these kind of mathematical geniuses today? No where, because there are none. I think this movie took very large liberties with the story. Still, the movie was entertaining, just impossible to believe.

I really like the movie scenario ans actors but the story is quite different from the reality. For instance, the character of Kevin Costner doesn't exist in the Real life ! Remaking History is not a good Idea because it changes the sense of things.

Every year around this time we get at least one film that focuses on race. The reason it usually comes out at this time of year is that the Academy Awards eat it up and it receives multiple nominations. The same thing happens with the holocaust as a subject almost every year without fail. I have no problem with this. If that's what people like in their films then c'est la vie. The problem only occurs when the film starts entirely falling back on the race factor. When the entire purpose becomes showing how evil the white man is, and how special black people are simply because they are black.

I read a quote from the real-life Katherine Johnson saying she couldn't understand why anyone would want to make a film about her life. In a way she makes a very valid point. Making a film about this lady is in its own way a little bit racist. It's saying this story is film-worthy simply because she was black. This will probably pass over most audience member's heads, but anyone who stops and thinks about it will realise this is actually quite insulting.

As far as being watchable goes the film is actually very good. The two hour run time flies by and there are some very well laid out scenes that impressively get across the message the film is trying to sell. There is also some very fine acting, particularly from Taraji P. Henson. In one scene in particular, around the midway point, she completely blew away.

I think this film would have worked as a story on its own, even putting aside the race factor. The fact that its in there does add another level to the film, but I'm not entirely sure it was necessary. Overall though, it's a well made film that if not thought about too deeply, can be quite enjoyable to watch.

My first thoughts after seeing the trailer to Hidden Figures was to question its watchabliity. My second thought was that Hidden Figures may be just the opposite. It had a story that as the title describes is relatively unknown and deals with one of the most exciting times in history. On top of that is a great solution to a Hollywood problem, the lack of leading roles for women, especially ones of color. Hidden Figures provides 3 leading roles for women of color, but unfortunately focuses far too much on that aspect of the characters, and not enough on their actual accomplishments. Oh and that watchability thing, well that's a problem too.

The real truth is that the story underneath it all is pretty lackluster. These women were certainly achieved some great things in a world that wanted them to do the opposite, but movies do have to be entertaining. The plot is not driven by these women and them overcoming both racism and sexism, but by the space race and the countless amounts of white men who benefited from it. The amount of scenes showing the women being treated like trash almost double the ones that show them succeeding. Race and sexism should certainly be part of this story, but it took over most of the movie which is disappointing.

The best thing about Hidden Figures are the three leads. Octavia Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughan and she fits into the supporting role perfectly. I don't want to call her a motherly figure, but she takes control a few times on the movie and it's great to see Ms. Spencer getting awards looks again. Janelle Monáe plays Mary Jackson and has the difficult task of acting alongside two fantastic actresses. She brings a lot of character to Jackson, but feels flat compared to her co stars. The real jewel here is the performance of Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson. Henson lights up the screen, and even though she is normally known as a bit of an over the top actress she brings subtlety to the role. She gets her moments to go all out and boy does she use them, another possible awards candidate and Ms. Henson's finest performance yet.

Hidden Figures will probably have a few Oscar noms by the time all is said and done, and while it is more deserving than movies like Hacksaw Ridge and Birth of a Nation, it does not deserve to be in the same category as Moonlight and La La Land. While watching Hidden Figures I was reminded of Loving, not because racial tensions drive both movies, but because they both have the same nagging issue, they are stories that are just not fit for movies. I would much rather watch a documentary on either the story of the Lovings or the women featured in Hidden Figures. At least I would gain some historical knowledge rather than being made to feel bad because people with the same color skin as me were assholes 60 years ago. Hidden Figures is not a bad movie, it just wants to be something its not, and that is never a good way to make a movie.

Hidden Figures is a decent movie about NASA and how in the early 60's an unlikely candidate, a black woman who is a math prodigy, helped to launch the U.S.' first astronaut into space amid Russian competition and tension.

Kevin Costner gives a really fine performance that elevates the film. He steals every scene, and this is one of the best performances I've seen him give. In addition, Taraji Henson gives a strong lead actress performance and Jim Parsons and others contribute good supporting roles.

All in all, in a year of a diverse batch of good movies and awards and Oscar contenders, Hidden Figures stands apart and differentiates itself as one of the best feel-good movies of triumph, courage, and achievement. After some more depressing Oscar contending entries, it's a breath of fresh air and could garner some late nominations for best picture, supporting actress, supporting actor and more.

Still, it's just decent and is pretty cliché.

6/10

Enjoyable and still overrated Having seen is now, by far the best part of it IMO is the fact of being a movie based on true events. The positive message that talented black people made it through the barriers of then-segregation with persistence is indeed nice. But it is put into scene with a too much schmaltz. The sets reproduce the 50&60ies quite well, as space adept you might also love the technical scenes of the rocket gear in action, but it somehow ends there. A bit curious it made it to the Oscar nominations IMO, at least it didn't win any rightly. This would have been indeed to much concession to the pioneer character of true events behind.

What I liked most or was portrayed best, I think, was how the feeling of the then-imposed rule for blacks of standing back "humbly" was put into scene.

When it comes to Best Picture nominated/winning movies, I always feel they fall into 3 categories for me.

1. Great-brilliant movies that deserved their nomination, let alone actually winning.

2. Decent-okay movies that while not bad, it only felt like they were nominated/won due to their subject matter.

3. Really boring-bad movies that while they suck as a movie, it make total sense for the Oscars to give it such praise.

Fortunately, Hidden Figures doesn't fall into number 3 on this list but it's not reaching number 1 for me anytime soon.

It is a very important historical piece of a film I'm glad was made at least. It's really well-acted, the characters are enjoyable and have good chemistry with each other, it's surprisingly really well-shot, the movie has good or sweet moments in it, and I really liked in particular how the clothing the main female characters wore fitted into some of the movie's theming. However, the creativity liberties taken with this movie really show off in not a very good way. Mainly the fact this is the one of the most predictable movie's I've ever watched.

Being predictable isn't always a sign of being a bad movie, but this is one of those movies where every scene and setup is so obvious that by the time the play off happens, it's not that satisfying since it was very easy to see it coming in the first place. There were expectations to the rule and I get the fact making it unpredictable would cause some issues due to this film being based off a true story, but there's already creative freedom taken with this movie like basing off Kevin Costner's character in the movie off of three different NASA directors instead of one real life person so I don't see the harm of making the movie a little less predictable if it doesn't erase the actual real story of the movie and is done well.

That's not the only issue I have however, there's way too many sub plots in this movie leading to some parts of the movie being a structural mess, 90% of the music used in the movie were either forgettable typical Oscar music you've most likely already heard in another movie or just felt out of place of the scene happening, and the film focuses on Katherine a bit too much in that, leading to Dorothy and Mary's arc of the story feeling not as fleshed out as they could have been.

Overall, I did enjoy the movie more than hating it but I doubt I'll be re-watching this anytime soon.

I was glad to learn about these women, regardless of inaccuracies that the story may have. The acting was certainly good and the movie had touching and interesting scenes. But, as it kept going, I got tired of its many Hollywoodian cliches. Really, I can't remembered when I last saw a film with so many embarrassingly implausible moments. Mostly, the single heroin among many apparently useless people, who solves any problem within seconds time and time again. Seriously, how many times are we supposed to tolerate such shallowness?

A Biopic of three womens story working as calculators at NASA in the early space race. Well paced and the historical accuracy is mostly there with no major tweaks. Just a couple to speed up the plot and make it a little more dramatic. My one wish is that the soundtrack picked more music from the time not ones for today. Overall well told, with no distracting politics seeping in.

The true story of three black women in the institutional halls of 1960s NASA, struggling to prove their value in engineering and mathematics while also sending John Glenn into orbit. It's a nice story and a strong moral, if a bit on the safe side. Nothing seems terribly difficult for these women, whether it's theoretical physics or racial equality, which reduces the power of their eventual success. One early scene epitomizes this attitude: broken down on the side of the road, they're approached by a stereotypical southern white policeman. Though internally panicked, they proudly stand their ground and deflect his barbs, and moments later he's giving them a friendly escort to the workplace. Faced with any degree of adversity, they merely hunker down, redouble their efforts and glide to victory. Which is admirable, and possibly truthful, if not especially gripping. The acting is good - Taraji P. Henson is most memorable as a mousey mother of three whose sole public outburst provides the film's only major dash of flavor - but the plot is too interested in lobbing softballs when it could've been pitching something with teeth. A warm, simple tale, appropriate viewing for a Sunday night with the family if not for challenging conventions.

While Hidden Figures is entertaining it's also a fairly atypical Hollywood political statement film which by definition lacks any real weight.

Hidden Figures explores segregation with much the same depth as Forrest Gump explored the 60's anti-war movement, the material is safe for white suburbanites who want to be entertained rather than confronted by actual reality so no doubt will clean up at the box office.

Watchable but more of a rose colored glass version of a story that goes out of it's way to not upset the audience than a factual biopic of any substance.

Personally, this movie made me think of Public Enemy's Burn Hollywood Burn but then I remembered Ice Cube's latest buddy cop travesty and the pitiful state today's revolutionary ideologies have been reduced to.

An acceptable version of the classic book, given the Hollywood treatment with all of the sentimentality that naturally comes with that, but not too cloying or overpowering as it goes. This one boasts a strong female cast of whom Octavia Spencer is the stand-out, as is always the case in her performances. It's also interesting to see an older Kevin Costner doing a different type of role well, and his scene with a toilet sign is a stand-out. The film's backdrop and evocation of the 1960s always feels authentic and despite the running time and general slow realism of the pacing, there are no dull moments here.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Jannele Monáe, have a good chemistry, the cast also features Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons and etc, the direction of Theodore Melfi is good, but I think he did not take advantage of the good story that the film has, the film had a lot more potential, I think it should be more dramatic, and with less humor, the script is Well, more would be better as a more dramatic film, and the film is boring, and in my opinion did not deserve to be nominated for the Oscar for best film, I think even Deadpool deserved more, but that's just opinion, Hidden Figures has a story Good, and a good cast, plus it's only medium, could be better. Note 6.2