User reviews

We baby boomers remember the intensity of the space program very well, and it's brought home in "Hidden Figures," a 2016 film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spancer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons.

The acting in this inspiring story is excellent, natural, and low key.

Based on a non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film is about three black women who entered the space program as mathematicians. At NASA they had a dual fight - not only were they black, but they were women in a man's world.

The film shows the segregation and prejudice they encountered. It also shows a world just before computers came in, with space trajectories figured out in pencil. Totally amazing. The story culminates with - what else - John Glenn's historic orbiting of the earth.

Fortunately for these brilliant, ambitious, and determined women, the prejudice shown in the film was actually overdone to make the story of their accomplishments stronger. Their accomplishments were pretty darned impressive anyway.

In the film, Katherine (Henson) has to walk 40 minutes to the "colored" bathroom until her supervisor, Harrison (Costner) finds out about it.

In truth, though this is something Mary (Monae) did encounter, Katherine didn't know about a segregated bathroom and used the regular one for years. Katharine, in fact, when interviewed, said that while prejudice existed underneath, in truth, everybody was concentrated on their work.

Costner's character is a mixture of different people, as is often done in films. He didn't really allow Katherine into an important meeting - she started pushing to attend them, and did, beginning in 1958.

When Mary goes to court so she can attend a white school at night, this didn't happen, though the school was segregated. She requested and received an exemption. You can see that would have looked pretty unexciting on film.

I don't think embellishing incidents and creating new ones that don't hurt the true story is a bad thing - the screenwriters wanted to make a point and more importantly, since it is film, do something visually. I think they could have done it without every character so totally against these women.

I'm white, and having worked in many offices, I can promise you there's a Jim Parsons character in every one no matter a woman's color. Back then men resented women in positions of authority. Probably many of them still do.

The purpose of true stories told in film, I feel, is to get you interested in the topic and read about it. Anyone looking for complete accuracy is going to be sadly disappointed, as I think some of the reviewers on this board were.

But in the end, we still had three amazing women working in the space program - and John Glenn did in fact ask Katherine to verify the IBM calculations before his launch. Pretty darned impressive.

I intended to give that movie 8 or 9 but after knowing the real events ,i discovered that the movie is just for entertainment purposes and it did not have any thing related to the real story. so i give it a 7 cause the cast is amazing and i liked the story , i will just consider it a fictional story.

The stories of the roles women played in the U.S. space program make for good counter-points to works such as 'The Right Stuff', which focused on the astronauts and the mission controllers (overwhelmingly male). 'Hidden Figures' presents the stories of three 'coloured' women (to employ a contemporaneous term used throughout the film) who worked for NASA at the dawn of the 'space-age'. Each of the three represented significant firsts for African American women in the space program: Mary Jackson became as an NASA engineer, Katherine Goble/Johnson as a high-level mathematician co-authoring research reports and Dorothy Vaughan as a supervisor (and later computer programmer). The women achieved these milestones through persistence, competence and drive and their stories deserve to be told and celebrated. Unfortunately, the movie chooses to make up facts and alter the time-line, presumably to make the story more dramatic. The whole '1/2 mile trip to the coloured toilet' is fiction, NASA had desegregated before the story takes place, and after the second or third trip, the scenes began to strike me as demeaning. The segment where Dorothy Vaughan, having read an introduction to Fortran, walks into the room containing the non-functioning IBM mainframe and immediately spots the problem (not plugged in?) is ridiculous. No one expects movies to be history lectures and telling complex stories in a couple of hours requires a lot of streamlining and consolidation (e.g. Kevin Costner's character is a composite of a number of senior NASA team-members), but making up significant events simply because they look good on screen undercuts the credibility of the story and is unpardonable in a movie that wants to be taken seriously (Harrison didn't exist, and if a metaphorical crowbar was taken to the "colored" bathroom sign, it was welded by Goble/Johnson). All of this is unfortunate, as the movie is (IMO) generally entertaining and presents a story worth telling. I was quite enjoying it until the IBM scene, which seemed so unlikely that I googled up the 'accuracy' of the film, and hit endless critical 'fact checking' sites (many neutral but some with an agenda). Like the dire "Red Tails" (2012), the filmmakers should have had more faith in their material (and their audience).

"Look around. We are already living the impossible." Katherine Johnson (Henson) is one of the smartest mathematicians in the world. She works as a computer for NASA at the height of the space race. Needing to answer back after Russia sent Sputnik into space the US is readying to send a man into space, but are struggling with finding a way to bring him home. It ultimately took a group of unlikely employees to accomplish the mission and show the world what America is capable of. This is a movie that I have heard nothing but good things about since it was released. When a movie is talked about as much as this and in such a positive light it is difficult for it to live up to the hype, usually. This one came close. I will admit this wasn't really what I expected though. I really expected this to focus more on the racial tensions that the women went though. While that did play a large part in this it seemed that that aspect was an afterthought. I'm not saying that's a bad thing though. The movie seemed to focus more on Johnson and the others proving themselves through her job to the point of being needed, regardless of gender or skin color. That is a lesson everyone needs to learn. As for the movie itself. It is very uplifting and inspiring and one that I do highly recommend. One the family can, and probably should all watch together. Overall, I can easily see why this was up for best picture and I do highly recommend this. I give this a high B+.

A reasonably well done movie.

Acting was above par with a good show from Henson, Spencer and Monae with decent support from Costner, Dunst and Stafford.

Script was average. Wish they had stuck a bit more with the historical side of this historical drama.

Cinematography was good. Decent use of some footage.

A bit better than just OK, but nothing to write home about.

Personally found it worth watching.

If you want to know what racism feels like, then the director of this movie really let's you have it front and centre. Not in a violent way, but in the way that most people experience it in the little acts of day to day life. The frown, the social exclusion or lack of acknowledgement.

The juxtaposition of a mega scientific journey to space with the serious problems on the surface of the planet is perfect. I remember the 60's, the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King. There are many powerful scenes in this movie. I think back to Dion's song Abraham, Martin and John.

Greetings again from the darkness. The space program has created many iconic images over the years: rhesus monkeys in space suits, the Mercury 7 Astronauts press conference, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin erecting a flag on the moon, and numerous Space Shuttle missions – some successful, others quite tragic. We've even been privy to cameras inside the space station and the NASA control center. Despite all of that, director Theodore Melfi's (St Vincent, 2014) latest film uncovers a part of history to which most of us knew nothing of.

Adapted from the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, the film stuns us with the story of the "Colored Computers" … the African-American female mathematicians who manually checked and cross-checked the endless calculations, formulas and theories required to launch a rocket into space and bring it (and the astronaut) back home. It's a crowd-pleasing history lesson and an overdue tribute to, and celebration of, three intelligent women of color who played crucial roles in the success of the American space program We first meet a young Katherine Johnson as a child math prodigy whose school can't provide her the challenge she needs. Next we see her as a bespectacled adult (Taraji P Henson) on the side of the road beside a broken down car with her friends and co-workers Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (musician Janelle Monea). They are on their way to work at Langley in the computing department. Dorothy is the ad hoc supervisor of the group and is in a non-stop battle for the title and increased pay that comes with the job. Mary is the razor-tongued one who is striving to overcome all of the obstacles on her way to becoming the first female African American Engineer at NASA. These are good friends and smart women caught up in the racism and sexism of the times and of the organization for which they work.

Soon, Katherine is promoted to the Space Task Group run by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). This is a group of true rocket scientists, and Katherine is charged with checking and confirming their work … a thankless job for anyone, but especially for a black woman in the early 1960's. Her supervisor (Jim Parsons) refuses to give her the necessary security clearance – huge portions of the work are redacted, making it increasingly difficult for Katherine to run the numbers. This is a seemingly accurate and grounded portrayal of racism in the workplace. At the time, racism and sexism were mostly woven into the fabric of society … it's "just the way things are". It's almost a passive-aggressive environment with separate coffee pots and restrooms clear across campus.

There are numerous sub-plots – probably too many. We even get an underdeveloped romance between Katherine and a soldier named Jim Johnson (Mahershala Ali, so great in this year's Moonlight). We follow Mary as she goes to court in pursuit of the right to attend the college that offers the engineering courses required for her certification. We see Dorothy with her kids, as well as her ongoing head-butting with her condescending supervisor (Kristen Dunst), who claims to have nothing against 'you people'. Dorothy's response is clever, crowd-pleasing and a reminder that this is an air-brushed version of reality … but also a view that we rarely see. As the Mercury Project progresses, we see how Harrison (Costner) is so focused on getting the job done, that he is oblivious to the extra challenges faced by Katherine – that is until her emotions erupt in a scene that will have Henson under Oscar consideration.

The slow implementation of the first IBM mainframe is important not just to NASA, but also to Dorothy and her team. They see the future and immediately start self-training on Fortran so that they are positioned for the new world, rather than being left behind. Eye-opening sequences like this are contrasted with slick mainstream aspects like no slide-rules (not very camera friendly, I guess), stylish and expensive clothing for the underpaid women, and a steady parade of sparkling classic cars in vibrant colors – no mud or dents in sight. Sure, these are minor qualms, but it's these types of details that distract from the important stories and messages.

The film does a nice job of capturing the national pride inspired by the Mercury project, and astronauts such as John Glenn (played here by Glen Powell, Everybody Wants Some!!). It even works in some actual clips and captures the pressure brought on by the race to space versus the Russians. There is an interesting blend of Hans Zimmer's score and the music of Pharrell Williams that gives the film a somewhat contemporary feel despite being firmly planted in the 60's. This mostly unknown story of these women is clearly about heroes fighting the daily battles while maintaining exemplary self-control. It offers a positive, upbeat and inspirational message … believe in yourself, and don't pre-judge others. Don't miss the photos over the closing credits, and don't hesitate to take the family to the theatre over the holidays.

This is quite a compelling story of three ladies who played a crucial part in the NASA operation that ultimately put John Glen into space. All three were mathematicians drafted in to provide their skills but unlike so many of their colleagues, they were subject to prejudices surrounding their race and their gender. The women adopted the best solution to combat this bigotry, though - they decided there are more ways than one to skin a cat and so let their astonishing talents do their talking for them. Luckily, Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) had a boss in Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) who was essentially a practical and politically motivated man who cared far less about segregation and much more about beating the Soviets into space. His attitude, that swiftly builds into a considerable degree of respect, enabled her to step up and demonstrate she was every bit as good, if not better, than those white men around her - all rather uniformly dressed in white shirts and ties. Across the corridor, the equally adept Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) was fighting her own battle for recognition as the supervisor of a crack team that was charged with installing, programming and validating the workings of a brand new IBM computer. Finally, the triumvirate was made up by Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) whose skills were going to be crucial if the heat shield on the module charged with getting the astronaut (Glen Powell) back to Earth safely was going to work properly. Director Theodore Melfi manages to delicately marry these three threads together keeping the story interesting and investing us not just in the struggles of these women but also in the excitement of the practical science unfolding before us. Henson and Spencer are convincingly understated with their performances and though Monáe is less prominent, the three characterisations still resonate well and informatively. I knew nothing of those people before I watched this - I'm glad I did.

Hidden Figures is a good movie with a reasonably well developed plot and a terrific cast. There are uplifting performances from the likes of Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner and Marshala Ali, who all are truly commited to their roles and have left their own personas, portraying these real life beings with all their soul. Taraji P. Henson is without a doubt the highlight as Katherine G. Johnson, she is absolutely mesmeric in this part and had me engaged every single moment she was on screen, delivering a real, truly extraordinary performance.

I did find that the film did not try hard enough to bring the struggles of these three women to the forefront. While I would usually like this kind of light hearted humour that features here, it felt like an injustice for such an incredible true story, it failed to uplift me as a result.

As well as that, I was never convinced by Octavia Spencer, it felt as if she was just acting and was not truly immersing herself in to this part. She was going through the motions which made the ensemble of the three females fall flat.

Flawed, but enjoyable. Certainly not perfect, Hidden Figures still brings an incredible, unknown true story to the forefront, which certainly makes it worth a watch if you are looking for a good biography film.

Follows three female, African-American mathematicians who served a major role during the early years of NASA.

Best Performance: Taraji P. Henson / Worst Performance: Octavia Spencer

Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) work at NASA's Langley colored calculating division in the still segregated Virginia. The facility is waiting for the new IBM computers and calculations are done by hand. The Russians are rocketing ahead. Katherine is assigned to director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) who is under pressure to launch an American into space. Dorothy is a supervisor in practice but Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) won't let her have the title. When the IBM computers are installed, Dorothy quickly learns to be an expert programmer leading the other colored girls. Mary must fight to attend an all-white school to be an engineer. The hard work culminates in John Glenn's flight on Friendship 7.

This story is a great unknown American history. Sometimes, it pushes too hard on the social commentary button. It's not really necessary since the story lays it out so well. There is no need for Taraji to make that big speech. A simple proclamation of her bathroom use and the fact that she's dripping wet should be enough to allow for a great moment for Al Harrison. There is also no need for him to take down the bathroom signs in such a theatrical way. The problem with these theatrical moves is the diminishment of the inherit power of those moments. Instead of commenting on the coffee pot, somebody could later drink her coffee as a point of transformation. While it doesn't make the movie bad, it is unnecessary for this great story.

While Hidden Figures suffers a bit from a run-of-the-mill biopic structure, the astounding acting across the board is enough to keep the casual movie fan pleased.

I always love checking out stories that I have never heard of. I've seen The Right Stuff, Apollo 13, and I know a little bit about the background of NASA. But I knew nothing of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Going into a film with little previous knowledge can be immensely rewarding experience. And although Hidden Figures isn't the best movie, it's most certainly a film worth seeing.

Playing the three "hidden figures" are Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae respectively. Aside from quite a few supporting performances from Spencer, I'm not overly familiar with these actresses' work. And perhaps unexpectedly, all three of them are terrific. Spencer gets the least to do out of the three, and still has a memorable banter with Kirsten Dunst, a racist co-worker. Monae brings a fresh and lighthearted character into the fold and complements the two of them well.

Taraji P. Henson on the other-hand, is on a completely different level. If it wasn't for Portman, Adams, and Stone giving such acclaimed turns this year, Henson would have likely been a front-runner. Considering she's playing someone without much wiggle room to show emotion, it's impressive that I felt as though I could understand exactly what she was feeling in every scene. She only gets a few scenes to express herself in a grand way emotionally, and she makes the best out of them. It was easily one of the best performances of the year.

Even though this story is very interesting on paper (three African American females working for NASA significantly helping America's chances of winning the Space Race), I feel like the film could have taken advantage of the story even more. I love the relationships these women have together and I instantly bought into their chemistry, as I did the material with each of the women's personal lives and families. But I don't think it came all together as neatly as I would have hoped. I wish we would have gotten a little more time with the three women together, instead of hammering home the underlying message involving racism. There's no question this story needed to be told, but at times the execution felt more formulaic than natural.

+Henson is extraordinary

+Incredible story

+Emotion hits a few times

-Directing and editing felt a little choppy

-Needed more time spent with just the three of them

7.0/10

Very few films were made until now about the beginnings of the American space program, and I am wondering why. Here is a true American saga that took place at a time that is still remembered by many of us. It's a story with famous and anonymous heroes, a story that begins with the dismay and fear caused by the Soviets taking early lead in the race to space (with the launching of the Sputnik and with sending the first man in space) and ends in triumph with the Apollo program and the moon landings. And yet, Hollywood still has to approach the period and make the movies about this great story and the men that made it possible. Hidden Figures only partly fills some of this gap, looking at a little known aspect of the first space programs, from a specific perspective, with the emphasis on an unexpected and unknown aspect - the racial prejudice that faced and had to be overcome by the first Afro-American contributors to the program. It tells the story of (until now) little known heroes who not only were 'colored' but also all happened to be women.

Hidden Figures is a fiction film based on the nonfiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, written by historian Margot Lee Shetterly. The script authors and director Theodore Melfi where extremely careful in the details, from dialogues that aim to be as close to reality as they are remembered by the heroes who lived the period (including apparently a scene that looks very Hollywood-like but apparently did happen, with John Glenn on the launching ramp of the very first flight asking for the computations to be checked by 'the girl' he met in the preparation meetings room) to details about how buildings, corridors, rooms, parking lots looked at the NASA compounds in Virginia. What is shocking today especially from a non-American perspective is the extent to which segregation and racial discrimination was part of life and of the books of laws a little more than half a century ago, in the country that was leading the democracy block in its fight against Communism, and was working to send its first men to space.

Yet, the 'inspirational' tone dominates the film, and the viewer has the feeling that almost every fact, action, or spoken dialog is in line with the point that the film aims to make. A more realistic or neutral approach would have made the message more convincing IMO. I did like the characters development, the fact that three women who are the lead characters in the film have each her own personality, talents, way of overcoming prejudice. The three actresses are Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe and I hope to see them in more (good) movies ahead. Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst are cast in supporting roles and they do a good job. Hidden Figures is a solid and in some places emotional film, but cannot break the convention of genre and style that it seems that the authors imposed on themselves.

My GF dragged me to this one ( agreed i also wanted to see it hehe) and we were both pleasantly surprised. I first thought it was a " Hollywood-esque dumbed down oversimplification and exagiration of historical facts".

However this was not the case. It is a great movie ( better than the Januari "action movies") and is a must see for all. the script was great and add to that some very talented actresses you got a clear win.

Of course some people will take this opportunity to view past events through modern day glasses and paint an "anti white" picture and fumbles mc stupid-ed from point A in the past to point B in modern times. Some even use it to further someone elses political standpoint. All of you should let the history for academic historians ( not the people who think that doing research about the past make them qualified as historians)

Returning to the film it is a clear and worthy 8/10

It's a NASA biopic of three African American mathematicians set in Hampton, Virginia, in 1926 and 1961/62. The movie begins by showing the young Katherine Gobel Johnson (Lidya Jewett/Taraji P. Henson) as a precocious student with exceptional mathematical skills. We then meet Katherine, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), who work as "computers" at the Langley Research Center operated by NASA in Hampton, Virginia. They do mathematical calculations related to NASA's early efforts at space travel before computers took over this work.

The three women face severe hindrances in Virginia's still-segregated work environment. Katherine works in an all-male Space Task Group run by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) and Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). Dorothy does the work of a supervisor but is not recognized as such. To stay employable, Dorothy learns Fortran to program the soon-arriving IBM computer. Mary works on the heat shield team and wants to attend university extension classes at an all-white high school.

The film follows each of them in their quest, with particular emphasis on Katherine, who becomes a key figure in planning John Glenn's (Jim Powell) first trip into space.

"Hidden Figures" is a PG feel-good film about three brave women. It significantly exaggerates conflicts to make them more impressive. Dorothy was already a supervisor by 1949. Katharine never had to go to another building for a colored washroom; she used "white" washrooms from the beginning. Katharine was a permanent member of the Space Task Force by 1958, co-authoring reports and attending meetings. Mary Jackson did not have to go to court to take the courses she wanted. These are only some of the historical liberties taken.

Henson, Spencer, and Monáe work well together in their characters. Some subplots and characters are extraneous. Kevin Costner plays, as usual, Kevin Costner.

This is a really watchable inspiring story

My only criticism is that during a time of actual segregation and serious racial tension, they portray this in a rather patronising and dumbed down and even contradictory way. Essentially all white people are racist.

I found it difficult to believe the petty racism shown by scientists to the black mathmatician e.g. Providing a small segregated coffee pot. In contradiction engineers were apparently not racist but supportive.

I believe more could have been shown of this, the 'bigger' picture of racisim and the civil rights struggle in the USA. In my opinion the minor petty racism displayed by scientists, undermined an important message on how racism was inshrined in law at this time. As was shown and touched on by different pay scales etc

But a well made, well acted, inspiring film that can be watched more than once 7.5 out of 10.

This movie:

Delivers a great story.

Beautifully designed costumes and sets, takes you to the era.

Awesome cast with great performances.

Stirring, funny, sad, insulting, heartwarming, demeaning, thought provoking and mostly uplifting.

In the 60's, three African American women were trying to make a change in their lives. Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) helps Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) to make history in the U.S. Space Program. Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) tries finding a way to maintain his group employable when technology seems to be close to does their jobs, and finally Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) pursues her dreams against every odd to become an engineer.

This movie starts great. It has heart, and it has a great cast full of great actors. Every character has a personality that differentiates from others, and they set their motivations. But the movie starts to fell flat halfway through it.

My interest at the beginning of the movie was really high, and I like every character but then at the middle of the movie I start to lose focus. I think is predictable what's going to happen and they don't try hiding it. It's a simple good movie that demonstrates how these women have to work twice as hard as anyone else to be noticed as equals. It doesn't intent to be more than that. The message is clear but they should have more focus on that in the middle of the second act.

This movie gets 7 out of 10 because it has heart, talented cast and an incredible story. But it isn't as good as it promise to be in the first act of the movie.