Hidden Figures, 2016.
Directed by Theodore Melfi.
Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Kimberly Quinn, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell.
SYNOPSIS:
A team of African-American women provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions.
File Hidden Figures under the ever-growing list of inspirational true stories that bafflingly have gone unnoticed, and even more surprising, completely untaught in most schools. Names like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong are pretty commonplace among the history books, but not much light has been shined on the three trailblazing genius mathematician African American women that put them in space, getting ahead women and minorities in the process.
Much of the focus goes to Katherine Johnson, (Oscar-nominated Taraji P. Henson), a gifted brainiac from birth with an unusually heightened knack for complicated mathematics, to the point where her intelligence deemed her fit to be a part of the Space Task Group formed by NASA that was led by Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), which was responsible for testing the calculations and logistics on launching the first American into orbit, specifically John Glenn and Project Mercury.
Given a job promotion yet also thrust into uncharted, unfriendly territory (the rest of the members of the group are stuck in the segregation mindset, going as far as refusing to touch the same coffeepot as Katherine), Hensen portrays Katherine with a restrained sense of optimism in the face of oppression. Furthermore, as the movie goes on and it becomes clear that the space program desperately needs her brain, the situation also instills some confidence into her character. At first assignment, Katherine is shaken with trepidation about whether or not she can keep up with her male workmates, but over time she develops into a really inspirational persona that admirably isn’t afraid to speak her mind. The moments when she does just that could very well earn Henson her second Oscar nomination.
Jim Parsons is also here in a supporting role playing lead engineer Paul Stafford, who isn’t so much concerned with the color of Katherines’s skin, but more so the fact that a woman could possibly do the job better than him. Not only does Jim Parsons excel in the role, exuding bitterness and jealousy during nearly every second he spends around Katherine, but from an audience perspective it’s also amusing watching the four-time Emmy-winning actor revered for playing a hyperactive ultra nerd on The Big Bang Theory in a mental battle of intellectual superiority, squarely based on something as trivial as gender.
It isn’t long before Al attempts to pull everyone together, operating under the mindset that if America is ever going to catch up to the Russians in the space race, that they need the brightest minds the country has to offer to work together, regardless of race. He has a sarcastic, sometimes wise-ass presentation to his character that all comes together to paint a man determined to get the job done. He also uses his power to knock down as many segregational barriers as possible, so that Katherine can do her work far more efficiently and finish even quicker.
Essentially, when Hidden Figures is all about the numbers and trying to put a man in space, the film is highly engaging and even filled with a few laughs. Yet for some reason director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) feels the need to cram in numerous other subplots regarding the other two prominent women in the battle for equal rights with NASA, and even more frustratingly, romantic subplots that are poorly defined and lacking in any gravitational emotional pull whatsoever. It starts off interesting with an African-American member of the National Guard pursuing Katherine, which actually makes sense considering that both are making unparalleled historical social progress, but Melfi squanders it all into a bunch of cliché scenes that just begin leaving you annoyed whenever one starts up.
Speaking of the other two highly intelligent women, it’s really just Octavia Spencer doing the usual sassy black woman routine as Dorothy, the unofficial supervisor of the West Computing building, which housed colored people and their given tasks. Admittedly, it does sort of work considering that there is a correlation between that personality and the aforementioned supervisor role she is gunning for, but at the same time, it doesn’t give me much to go on to analyze her as a character. The scene at the library with her children properly does this, whereas everything else just comes across as an outdated stereotype.
As for Mary Jackson (musician Janelle Monae in her sophomore acting debut, recently stunning audiences in indie critical darling Moonlight), she has a subplot regarding her trials and tribulations of becoming the first African-American woman engineer in the NASA space program, but again, it doesn’t get enough time to make the payoff of the plot-line truly resonate. The scenes also feel disconnected to the core of the narrative, where the scenes with Dorothy have a little more impact on blasting someone off into space strapped to a rocket. If nothing else, all three actresses do share a great degree of chemistry with one another, and most definitely deserve the accomplishments of their real life counterparts to be acknowledged in film and the history books.
Alongside the disjointed plot points and scattershot pacing is the head-scratching creative decision to give Hidden Figures an anachronistic soundtrack featuring original music and songs from Pharrell. It gets even more annoying as we are forced to listen to the same song three times throughout the movie, as the same running joke is repeated. Thankfully, the instrumental score from Hans Zimmer is a good one that heightens the drama during more serious conversations and the danger of Project Mercury.
Even though Hidden Figures is overstuffed with plot points and has way too much going on to properly flesh out in its roughly 2-hour running time, the film deserves praise for putting some unknown heroes into the limelight. Most importantly, the movie will inspire both blacks and women around the world that oppression cannot hold someone down if they fight for their dreams with their heart and soul.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder – Chief Film Critic of Flickering Myth. Check here for new reviews weekly, friend me on Facebook, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published December 11, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
