I was familiar with the Manhattan project and the social and political aftermath, so "Oppenheimer" was an excursion into known territory.
Is it Nolan's finest movie to date? Not really. Because I know he can do even better. Does it touch upon greatness? Yes, a couple of times!
THE GREAT +++
THE NOT SO GREAT ---
Is it Nolan's finest movie to date? Not really. Because I know he can do even better. Does it touch upon greatness? Yes, a couple of times!
THE GREAT +++
- Cillian Murphy gives one of the most surprising leading man performances in ages and just might win an Oscar for his excellent portrayal of Robert Oppenheimer. He fully transforms into the highly complex and increasingly conflicted man, his eyes ooze tension, his voice is on point, and his demeanour is congruent.
- The entire 2nd act (the building of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos laboratory and the eventual detonation of the first atomic bomb) is the best part of the movie.
- Oppenheimer's shaken and stirred speech after the Trinity test is arguably the most engrossing and immersive movie-making of this summer.
- Great Hollywood actors and actresses galore.
- Many poignant time jump edits.
- The scene with Oppenheimer and president Truman in the oval office.
- Hair and make-up department convincingly depicts Oppenheimer (and some of the rest) from student years to the last stages of their lives.
- In (surprisingly) typical Nolan fashion, the very ending is a satisfying (if slightly fizzled by the 3rd act) "twist" that was being built up throughout the movie.
THE NOT SO GREAT ---
- A big portion of the movie is a dissapointing bait-and-switch. It focuses way too much time on Oppenheimer's pre-Trinity political activity and post-Trinity kangaroo trial without a satisfactory reason to do so. The 1st and especially the overly long 3rd act needed tighter editing and the movie would have been better for it. The build-up to the powerful ending could easily be slightly modified and still pack the same if not an even bigger, much needed gut-wrenching punch.
- The pacing is overly dense because it tries to jam-pack too much of Oppie's pre- and post-Trinity life into one movie. Nolan adds a plethora of new characters we can just barely remember and his time jump edits are sometimes unnecessary and hard to follow.
- Not nearly enough of the movie is about the actual technical feat of building the first atomic bomb.