Oppenheimer
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
- Released: 2023-07-19
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Drama, History, War
- Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich, Dane DeHaan, Matthew Modine, Jack Quaid, Dylan Arnold, Michael Angarano, Olli Haaskivi, David Krumholtz, David Dastmalchian, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Dane DeHaan, Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Modine, Rami Malek, Alden Ehrenreich, Alex Wolff, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Emma Dumont, Dylan Arnold, Matthias Schweighöfer, David Dastmalchian, Olli Haaskivi, David Krumholtz, Christopher Denham, Michael Angarano, Scott Grimes, James D'Arcy, Louise Lombard, Jason Clarke, Danny Deferrari, Guy Burnet, Josh Peck, Gregory Jbara, Tony Goldwyn, Gustaf Skarsgård, Tom Jenkins, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Devon Bostick, Harrison Gilbertson, David Rysdahl, Josh Zuckerman, Olivia Thirlby, Jeff Hephner, Bryce Johnson, Meg Schimelpfenig, Petrie Willink
- Director: Christopher Nolan
Comments
- debrarachelle - 18 June 2024
Too much back and forth
It is way to dizzying. It goes back and forth in-between fever dreams from Oppenheimer.
Robert Downey JR's character's memories are black and white while the "current" timeline and Oppenheimer's memories are in color. I could not get past the first 10 minutes. I did not understand the back and forth and the freaking fever dreams or whatever. At one point I think I figured his dreams were the explosion of an atom backwards working it's way to being whole, but I will never ever know for sure because I cannot get through the weird timeline of events. Why are Robert Downey Jr's character's memories black and white? I don't understand? It would make sense if all memories were black and white. Ugh I had High hopes But this was too strange, slow and odd. - Nyouq - 9 June 2024
The Greatest Piece of Fiction Ever Made
I am not film savvy, I hope to one day be. With however what I do know and what I am able to appreciate, so far, this film is leaps and bounds ahead of everything I've been exposed to thus far. Nolan just has a way to create moments for the watcher and this movie was exactly that. A moment in time extended for an experience. The visuals, the acting, the costume design everything was perfect. The genius of the film is only enabled by the fact that it was all done without CGI, which is one of my favourite things about Christopher, his ability to create art in analog. I mean the film has seven Oscars, what more is there to say? I also appreciate the exclusion of the Japanese bombing, most directors would've utilised that scene to draw an audience to their film and it could be argued most other directors would've failed if their movie could not include the bombing. Nolan some how to his credit, made the movie just as good without it. The casting was brilliant also I really hope Murphy plays his hand in more blockbuster movies. 10/10 film I can't wait to learn more about this world of cinema. - MysticSolver - 2 June 2024
Standards of film quality in decline
Oppenheimer and the hype and praise around the movie let me believe that this is another masterpiece by the acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, but at best I could say this is a decent film, sadly nothing past that.
The beginning and parts of the movie feel rushed, the pacing is simply terrible, the main character isn't very relatable, but on the upside the remaining cast are. Strong performances are mostly given by everyone but I felt like the main guy was a slight miscast.
The movie builds up to the moment of explosion quite effectively, there's lots of tension and anticipation through the film and for what its worth, the politics in the movie are sometimes intriguing, but sometimes I couldn't keep up due pacing suddenly accelerating like mad, there's a lot of unnecessary flashbacks and timejumps back and forth. Nolan clearly wanted to movie to be deeper than what he could achieve here, perhaps too ambitious of an attempt.
The "climax" if you will (aka the detonation of the bomb) was so lackluster that it alone removes a star from my rating... Anyone who has seen footage of real atomic bombs will notice that the explosion here wasn't one. It was a gasoline explosion, there was no mushroom cloud to be seen! For the sake of immersion and believability, Nolan should've settled for CGI for once...
The hype, expectations and overall praise of the movie felt misleading after having watched this, the status of some directors and actors seem to mislead into believing that what they're watching is deep, meaningful and mysterious, when in fact that's just the surface with very little beneath it.
It's an alright movie with some fancy visuals sprinkled here and there, but the pacing in the end is the biggest letdown especially considering how long the film was.
6/10.
