Hidden Figures is a practically perfect film, and I loved every single thing about it...nothing is more personally satisfying to me than a movie that is cast correctly, and this one gets it right with every character...
It's the historically important true story of the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who, while working in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center, helped NASA catch up in the Space Race...using these calculations, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of Earth....
Octavia Spencer is always a sure thing, and the beautiful
Janelle Monáe is compelling here, and definitely has a future in film...
Kevin Costner was made for this role, and is excellent in it, but
Taraji P. Henson is definitely the center of this flick's orbit (pun intended)...she's always good in everything, but in this she's an absolute revelation...never seen a better performance...
Loved the character development, and the way that it deals with racial struggle in a wide-eyed, matter-of-fact way without being overly preachy...
Pharrell Williams' music is also a welcome addition here...
This isn't just an inspirational story for People of Color, and it's not just a story about women's issues (although I took my granddaughter, and think it's a good movie to take every daughter to see)...and it's not just an American History piece...it's really a story about challenging convention on every level, and is quite culturally relevant at this time...it's just a great movie...
I really hope that
John Glenn saw this before he transitioned a few weeks ago, or was at least aware of it, because it's quite a tribute to him, as well...the very appealing Glen Powell does a great job portraying him...
