Hidden Figures (2016)
Hidden Figures is a perfectly fine film.
It's not perfect, it's not incredibly artistic, and it's not an instant classic. But if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that you will enjoy Hidden Figures more likely than not.
Most of this is due to the film's tone. Hidden Figures has a very positive, uplifting, inspirational tone that instantly attracts and allows the viewer to very easily buy into the story the film is trying to tell. This is a rarity among good films these days, with the majority of audiences seeing darker tone as emotional complexity and depth. I actually completely disagree with this, despite my preference for darker films, so I greatly appreciate Hidden Figures's ability to have some nice depth to its characters and story without going to a darker tone. It helps keeps everything light and very appealing.
The other incredible strength of Hidden Figures is its performances. The acting across the board is quite good, with the trio of female leads doing really great work. My personal favorites were Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae, as they do things I haven't seen from them before. I really liked the complexity their performances had to offer. Octavia Spencer, however, seems to be doing something right in her wheelhouse in a bad way. I have seen her in several films recently, and all of them have her playing a character close to the character she played in The Help, which got her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I understand that she's good at this type of character, but it's beginning to feel like a gimmick of sorts. The supporting cast does generally good work, especially Kevin Costner and Mahershala Ali.
Besides those two things, Hidden Figures is a competently made film. The direction is solid, the screenplay doesn't have too many issues, and the pacing is generally not an issue. I don't have a whole lot to say about these elements because when a film has competent but not stellar aspects I generally don't feel a need to make any remarks about them. I mention them here because there isn't a part of Hidden Figures that feels out of place or poorly executed; the film has a lot of things that would be considered "just good."
While that may not be the most glowing thing I've said about a film, Hidden Figures is a film I would totally recommend seeing. It tells a good story, and it tells it really well. Is it the most remarkable film made released last year? No. Is it the most culturally significant film of the past decade? Absolutely not. But it's good, and it deals with some things I didn't know about before and made me go explore the true story behind the film as soon as I got back from watching it. That's the mark of a good "based on a true story" film like this.
My recommendation: definitely see it, but a theater isn't necessary.
My grade: 77
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