this just felt horribly over-produced, which is such a shame because the underlying story is wonderful and very important. it really cleaned the edges off of everything and tells us that they had to deal with racism and sexism rather than actually portraying anything direct. it also works really hard to work in as many ra-ra and feel good moments as it can, and that undermines their effectiveness quite a bit. it doesn't make sense to have katherine be the one to come up with leaving the retro rocket attached so glenn could safely reenter. that wouldn't be the purview of a mathematician like katherine johnson, instead that would be something that an engineer would work on. if they wanted to give that moment to one of the main characters, mary jackson would have made much more sense. little things throughout the film came off as disingenuous. katherine's long journeys to the restroom were played off as light, comedic moments. when she finally snaps and gives her speech/rant, it feels out of nowhere, because the moments that should have been shown as growing frustration were played too light and silly. the entire cast performs well, but no one really stands out, the material just wasn't strong enough to really give them a ton to work with. there was one moment that was extremely important and helped to support the entire film, octavia spencer and kirsten dunst's conversation in the restroom. the closing lines,

despite what you may think, i have nothing against y'all. i know, i know you probably believe that.

that is the single most important line of the film and probably of the year. it is just a same that such a powerful line came in such an underdeveloped film. i don't know quite why, but the shuttle launches carried absolutely no tension. when watching the right stuff, apollo 13, or first man, even though i know the astronauts make it back safely, it is incredibly stressful and intense. in hidden figures, there was never any tension surrounding the astronauts safety for me. i don't know if that was because john glenn wasn't a main character that i had an emotional investment in or if it was because they leaned on middling cgi for the space effects, but that was underwhelming. watched as part of scavenger hunt 49 task #14: go to the last language in movie #13 and find another movie featuring that language! my list | ryan's master list watched as part of scavenger hunt 50 task #26: watch a film about female friendships my list | lindsay's master list