Oppenheimer - Explosive Historical Drama

you know it's tough to think of a movie that had more expectations resting on it than Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan's historical biopic about the man who came to be known as the father of the atomic bomb damn that's a boss name if ever I've heard one in a summer movie season where the term flop Buster was officially coined and the utter dregs of human civilization somehow got condensed into movie form I think it's fair to say that most of us were feeling pretty starved of quality Cinema but there was one Beacon of Hope still shining on the horizon a chance for smarter more patient and intellectually challenging films to reassert themselves on General audiences a chance for Christopher Nolan to restore his reputation as a top-level filmmaker after the disappointing mess of Tena but does it actually accomplish these things does it live up to the hype and do justice to one of the most complex controversial and misunderstood figures in American history well yes sort of as I said before on Twitter sorry x a couple of days ago Oppenheimer may be the most Christopher Nolan of all the Christopher Nolan movies exemplifying all of his greatest strengths as a filmmaker a complex detailed multi-layered story told non-chronologically interweaving past and present events to form a comprehensive picture of an extremely complicated life slavish Devotion to historical and scientific accuracy and imaginative technically challenging filming techniques that produce some genuinely awe-inspiring moments unfortunately it also provides an unchecked outlet for some of his worst Tendencies as a writer his almost obsessive need to over-intellectualize and over complicate everything he does resulting in a bloated runtime and sluggish Pace characters that rely more on the strength of the actors portraying them than the coldly clinical script they're working from resulting in a story that lacks the emotional heart needed to keep you invested and an almost total lack of warmth and levity resulting in a weirdly Bleak inhuman viewing experience it's kind of the best and worst of what Christopher Nolan does the movie begins in 1959 with the Senate confirmation hearing of Lewis Strauss a rising star in American politics the hearing seems like it's going to be a walkover nothing more than a formality to tick a few boxes before Strauss Rises to the highest levels of American government unfortunately for him though the question soon turned towards his past dealings with Robert Oppenheimer the leading scientist in the U.S atomic bomb program who's since been disgraced and disavowed by the American government for his past dealings with Communism the confirmation hearing acts as a kind of framing device for the rest of the story as it jumps backwards and forwards to different events in oppenheimer's life from his early days as a troubled physics student bouncing around different universities to his vague dabbling and communism and his messy personal life and his eventual recruitment into the Manhattan Project in a Race Against Time to build a nuclear bomb before the Germans culminating in the successful Trinity detonation and the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan this is without doubt the strongest section of the movie It's tense tightly paced brilliantly written and driven by compelling performances by all of the lead actors the Trinity detonation itself was one of the most terrifyingly beautiful and perfectly filmed sequences I've ever seen in a movie theater an oppenheimer's reaction to the use of his creation on innocent civilians is captured with chilling intensity honestly you could have ended the movie right there and I probably would have walked away a very happy man unfortunately Christopher Nolan has other ideas and retreated to a whole extra hour document in oppenheimer's subsequent Fall From Grace mostly centered around tedious and repetitive interrogations Dusty Senate hearings personal grudges and betrayals repetitive references to past events and long somber Reflections as various characters Ponder the merits of their choices all of it to basically bring us right back to the same questions we were left to ponder after their Hiroshima bombings and our earlier what was the true cost of this new creation now it's very to say that Christopher Nolan has a bit of a divisive reputation as a filmmaker these days especially when he doesn't have the right people in place to Reign him in his films are a bit like data from Star Trek super intelligent and technically brilliant accomplishments but lacking the heart and soul needed to engage on a fundamental human level and like I said earlier I certainly can't fall Oppenheimer on the first part the film's definitely at its best during the Manhattan Project section where you really get a sense of the fear and Desperation of scientists racing against time to harness forces they barely understand but the problem is that this only takes up about a third of its run time the rest is given over to everything that came before and after most of which is told out of sequence because of course it has to be because it's a Christopher Nolan movie the thing is balancing a complex multi-decade narrative with a massive cast of characters is no easy feat even if everything's told in sequence but adding this extra layer of narrative complexity on top just feels like a step too far I can see a lot of people in the general audience pool more used to undemanding superhero flicks getting kinda lost and disengaged in such a labyrinth theme story don't get me wrong it's definitely a rewarding experience if you can stick with it but you definitely can't afford to let your attention wander during this one the thing is I'm pretty sure that no one is aware of the criticisms he's been getting in recent years which is probably why the movie devotes a lot of run time to oppenheimer's personal relationships but again it doesn't quite work for me because almost none of these scenes feel like how actual couples deal with each other it's more like watching too highly intelligent Androids doing their best approximation of human behavior trade an intellectual rep RT with no real personal connection behind it even a pair of six scenes with Florence Pugh's character feel weirdly awkward and gratuitous adding nothing to the story I mean don't get me wrong the cast of this film is [ __ ] incredible and everyone turns in brilliant performances especially Emily blonde Killian Murphy Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr who all nailed their roles to Perfection Matt Damon especially provides some of the few moments of genuine warmth and levity in the entire movie most of which were featured quite heavily in the trailer but again this is a bit of a trademark for Nolan films casting great actors who can Elevate fairly sterile characters on the sheer strength of their performances and well it feels a bit like cheating if I'm honest Killian Murphy is a perfect example of this he absolutely dominates the screen owning every scene he's in with an intensity and drive that few other actors could hope to equal you can tell that he dropped a lot of weight to better resemble the real-life Oppenheimer and he very much embodies the image of a man consumed by his work and yet weirdly the script always keeps him kind of aloof and distant showing his reactions but rarely letting us get an insight into the man behind them I felt like I didn't know the character any better by the end of the movie than I did at the start and honestly I can't tell you if that was a failure of the script or a deliberate choice on Nolan's part ultimately despite my criticisms here I'd be lying if I said I was bored during this movie but my interest came from a different direction than most film experiences of Oppenheimer definitely engaged me on an intellectual level had me marveling at the strong performance season technical Mastery on display challenged me with a plot that was complex and rewarding and left me with some pretty interesting philosophical questions to ponder when it was all over I just think that it could have got there a little more efficiently could have used a little more humanity and a little less complexity and probably would have worked better if it was more tightly focused on key events and people rather than trying to squeeze a very long and complex life into a single movie but hey I'm just pleased that it's doing well at the box office so that all those [ __ ] journalists out there can't make any jokes about Oppenheimer bombing anyway that's all I've got for today go away now

Channel: The Critical Drinker

Views: 1,206,365

Keywords: critical drinker, review, best, funny, feminist, feminism

Id: 9O2GXfiiNw4

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 25 2023