Oppenheimer is one of those rare films that manages to succeed in virtually every aspect. It's masterfully acted, it has an excellent screenplay, mind blowing effects, and it's a well-crafted nuanced view of an extremely complicated figure, J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. It manages to captivate the audience over a 3-hour runtime that knows that every second counts. It's also the work of Christopher Nolan, one of the most respected directors in the world. This was a movie that demanded the big screen experience. While it is still an excellent movie if you watch it at home, the Trinity test was breathtaking in IMAX.
The cast and acting are fantastic. Cilian Murphy, a frequent Nolan collaborator, is in the lead role. He's excellent. The best scenes are the ones toward the end when the reality of what he's done has set in. The primary supporting cast, namely Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh, are excellent. Downey in particular was worthy of the Oscar he will inevitably win. It was also nice to see him in a serious role, especially after all those years of playing Iron Man. Even the less important characters with a single minute of screen time are played by A-listers like Kenneth Branagh and Rami Malek. It's truly one of the best acting ensembles in recent memory.
From a technical standpoint, it's incredible in several different ways. The story is framed in a way in which constant shifts between different time periods tell a singular, continuous narrative, and it works. Uniquely, the "present" is in black and white and the past is in color. The editing is impeccable; seamlessly blending speakers and time periods. The score is excellent. While it's not Nolan's regular Hans Zimmer, it's similar. It's almost as much ambient noise as it is music, and it amplifies the intensity of the film. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that there is no CGI in the movie at all. The massive explosion at Los Alamos is a practical effect. The scenes that visualize abstract scientific concepts are actual footage. They work so well because it makes these concepts, which paradoxically describe the mechanisms of how reality works but yet seem so disconnected from our world, seem very real. The Trinity test scene is incredible. Everything about that scene is perfect. The music, the sound, the way it's built up, and of course, the explosion itself. It's very hard to believe it's not CGI. The ending is powerful. I won't spoil it here.
In his lifetime and today, J. Robert Oppenheimer was a very controversial figure. The movie does not want us to like or dislike him, but rather to understand him. His political views landed him in hot water in the McCarthy era, something which serves as the background for the film. It doesn't judge him as right or wrong on that, it's just how it happened. His personal life was quite complicated. He was a known womanizer and adulterer, something the movie touches on but ultimately leaves underdeveloped. Given the runtime, some things will inevitably be left out but that doesn't excuse neglecting things they decided to keep.
One of the more controversial elements of the movie is that it does not actually show the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was handled well, as the lack of seeing it does not detract from the weight it leaves on Oppenheimer's shoulders. In the almost 80 years since the bombings, there has been much debate over whether dropping the bombs was a preferable alternative to an invasion of the Japanese mainland. The movie does not shy away from asking the question, but it doesn't take a side. This is the way to go. The moral of the story is not that Hiroshima and Nagasaki shouldn't have been bombed, it's a warning of what could happen in the future.
It's great that this movie did so well at the box office. $950 million for a three hour long science biopic/political drama, partially in black and white and very little action is one heck of a return. Granted, a lot of it is owed to the Barbenheimer phenomenon, and this movie is a considerably harder sell than Barbie, but the result is the same. This is a movie that will be remembered, and justly so. Not only is it one of Nolan's best, it is one of the greatest movies of the century so far.
The cast and acting are fantastic. Cilian Murphy, a frequent Nolan collaborator, is in the lead role. He's excellent. The best scenes are the ones toward the end when the reality of what he's done has set in. The primary supporting cast, namely Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh, are excellent. Downey in particular was worthy of the Oscar he will inevitably win. It was also nice to see him in a serious role, especially after all those years of playing Iron Man. Even the less important characters with a single minute of screen time are played by A-listers like Kenneth Branagh and Rami Malek. It's truly one of the best acting ensembles in recent memory.
From a technical standpoint, it's incredible in several different ways. The story is framed in a way in which constant shifts between different time periods tell a singular, continuous narrative, and it works. Uniquely, the "present" is in black and white and the past is in color. The editing is impeccable; seamlessly blending speakers and time periods. The score is excellent. While it's not Nolan's regular Hans Zimmer, it's similar. It's almost as much ambient noise as it is music, and it amplifies the intensity of the film. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that there is no CGI in the movie at all. The massive explosion at Los Alamos is a practical effect. The scenes that visualize abstract scientific concepts are actual footage. They work so well because it makes these concepts, which paradoxically describe the mechanisms of how reality works but yet seem so disconnected from our world, seem very real. The Trinity test scene is incredible. Everything about that scene is perfect. The music, the sound, the way it's built up, and of course, the explosion itself. It's very hard to believe it's not CGI. The ending is powerful. I won't spoil it here.
In his lifetime and today, J. Robert Oppenheimer was a very controversial figure. The movie does not want us to like or dislike him, but rather to understand him. His political views landed him in hot water in the McCarthy era, something which serves as the background for the film. It doesn't judge him as right or wrong on that, it's just how it happened. His personal life was quite complicated. He was a known womanizer and adulterer, something the movie touches on but ultimately leaves underdeveloped. Given the runtime, some things will inevitably be left out but that doesn't excuse neglecting things they decided to keep.
One of the more controversial elements of the movie is that it does not actually show the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was handled well, as the lack of seeing it does not detract from the weight it leaves on Oppenheimer's shoulders. In the almost 80 years since the bombings, there has been much debate over whether dropping the bombs was a preferable alternative to an invasion of the Japanese mainland. The movie does not shy away from asking the question, but it doesn't take a side. This is the way to go. The moral of the story is not that Hiroshima and Nagasaki shouldn't have been bombed, it's a warning of what could happen in the future.
It's great that this movie did so well at the box office. $950 million for a three hour long science biopic/political drama, partially in black and white and very little action is one heck of a return. Granted, a lot of it is owed to the Barbenheimer phenomenon, and this movie is a considerably harder sell than Barbie, but the result is the same. This is a movie that will be remembered, and justly so. Not only is it one of Nolan's best, it is one of the greatest movies of the century so far.