Movie Review: Oppenheimer

Now I Am Become Death, The Destroyer Of Worlds." J. Robert Oppenheimer

Some directors have positioned themselves in my life so much that all they need to do is announce they have a movie and I watch. No trailer needed. No persuasion whatsoever. Nolan is one of those directors.

When he announced that he had a new movie in the works, many speculated if he was going to go the Tenet way or the Prestige way. He went an entirely different way and dived into a Biography.

I've seen a fair share of good biographies: Concussion, Hidden Figures, Tesla, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Radioactive, to mention a few. It's never easy to depict a scientist's life on screen and in a manner that arouses interest but Nolan did and did too well. He gave us Oppenheimer

Quick Recap

The movie follows the life of J Robert Oppenheimer as he grows to become the father of the Nuclear Bomb that was unfortunately used on Hiroshima during the war.

The Plot

The longest single-feature I’ve seen in the past four years was Zack Synder’s Justice League. So, I wasn’t concerned about the length and when it was announced, I knew 3 hours wasn’t a bad deal at all.

The plot was the life of Oppenheimer. His doggedness in standing on what he feels is right, his love life, left-wing involvement and the development of the nuclear bomb. We watch him learn more about himself and the people he works with or once called friends and how ego almost cost him everything.

The Cast

Now, this was impressive. Nolan had successfully brought an extraordinary cast to portray the characters he had developed and not one of them disappointed.

We'll start with Cillian Murphy. Cillian has been in almost all Nolan's movies but never as a lead man. This time, they called on him to embody Oppenheimer and he nailed it to the tee. The development from the time of Scarecrow in Dark Knight to a scientist here was quite inviting to watch.

Robert Downey Jr has always been that guy I celebrate for taking his second chance and making it work for him. Seeing him take on a strong, flawed character outside of his arrogant, billionaire tech guy with a suit made me smile.

It made me smile because many fans argue that Marvel actors can't act to save their life as everything is green-screened. But RDJ proved otherwise. He can act. And taking on a sort of antagonistic role alongside Cillian was a smooth blend.

Emily Blunt is my darling anytime any day. I enjoyed her first pairing with Cillian in a Quiet Place 2 and this time they came back as a couple that navigates cheating, accusations and betrayal. She was stellar and delivered— as she always does.

Matt Damon, during the interview sessions mentioned how he had promised his wife to steer clear of any movie with the loophole that if Nolan called he would go. And Nolan did call. And he answered. I couldn't believe that it was Matt. He's an Alistair actor with range but the character he took up for Oppenheimer had me thinking whether he had tried to work in the Army before. The carriage, attitude, tone, delivery, was all exceptionally executed.

Aside from these three Nolan pulled in the likes of Kenneth Branagh (Detective Hercule), Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Gustaf Skarsgård (Floki), Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon), Josh Hartnett…

The Oppenhommies were amazing and made their directors proud.

Barbieheimer

This was by far the most interesting movie premiere clash in the industry. Both movies had the same premier and were from the same studio. At first, the fans tried to pit both movies against each other trying to tank the other, but the studio spun this around and birthed Barbieheimer. The collaboration created movie magic with two movies that were of different genres and it worked. Fans moved from Oppenheimer theatre to Barbie and not only did the movies thrive with figures being close to each other, the studio gained immensely.

There was also fan speculation about him detonating a real bomb. The memes had me rolling. How do fans cook up such ridiculousness? Man said he wasn't going to use CGI for the bomb and everyone concluded he would blow up the country.

Final Thoughts

It’s Nolan. It works. His storytelling and directing is always superb. He doesn’t have a bad movie and I hope he never does. As for the Oscar wins, well deserved. I placed bets on Cillian, Downey and Nolan going home with an Academy and they did. It was well deserved and for Nolan, been a long time coming.

If you're not a fan of biographies or Nolan, don't watch. But if you are then you're in for a good treat.