Rocketing to the stars

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2017)

This review of Hidden Figures is spoiler free
**** (4/5)
THERE IS A LOT we know or may know about NASA, especially the moon landing of 1969, but what happened before that pinnacle moment in American history? Surprising as it may be NASA has a hidden story. Hidden Figures sets that story for the big screen, set in Virginia, 1961 a time when people never expected women to amount to anything, especially women of colour who were still used for help around houses in that time, this well-crafted film sets the tale of how a trio of African-American boffins changed the face of not just America but NASA too. We open with Katherine Johnson (Henson) as a child and how she succeeded as a mathematician, it's not much of an origin story but it's well-crafted nonetheless. Then the film shifts to when she is grown up surrounded by her two best friends Dorothy (Spencer) a computer programmer and Mary (Janelle Monáe) an engineer these three have a dream to change the world, but when they get to their destination at NASA they are bombarded by racism, sexism, that doesn't stop them from achieving their dream.
Writer/director Theodore Melfi makes us wait a while for these women to achieve big however he uses this time well, crafting these women to become big historic figures takes time, Katherine is a brilliant mathematician when she is assigned to another part of the building it is her job to look up some numbers, there is one member of her new team who doesn't like her straightaway, but she is determined to show these men exactly what she can do. Granted she may be the subject of bullying at her job but she is strong-willed and doesn't let these bullies get the best of her.
But not only is she a hard-worker, she's also a mother having to take care of her three children after the death of her husband. She's shy of meeting a new man until she meets the one of her dreams, who changes her life for the better. Until, the building decides to bring in faster super-computers she starts to feel scared about her job so she is keen to keep her job going until the computers start to work. This is when we see what soft-talking Dorothy can do when she starts to work her magic on the computers. At this point Mary finds out that she can't be an engineer without any specific qualifications she flips out and decides to go back to school.
In the third act when their lives start to get better, suddenly the computers start to work so Katherine is not needed any more, this is when the film loses its momentum it spends a lot of time trying to get it back by coming with various equations for the Earth landing which need to be confirmed, it struggles to get the momentum back. Granted the story loses its momentum, but Hidden Figures hits almost every beat with perfect execution, it's an empowering story of inspirational women who changed the world of space travel forever; it has a lot of detail, a lot of technical speech it's very funny in places, there is plenty here to enjoy and is just a another addition to the already huge list of inspirational stories.
VERDICT: A warmhearted, witty and truly inspirational story. Hidden Figures hits many beats big or small with almost perfect execution that propels the film forward with non-stop motion.