Oppenheimer
Year: 2023
Rating: R
Length: 180 minutes / 3.00 hours
Christopher Nolan’s filmography has been building to this movie. Over decades, Nolan has had gimmicks in his films that make them stand out. Oppenheimer (2023) uses many of them to create a compelling story that’s half scientific discovery and half political drama. That a movie like this—about unleashing the Pandora’s box of nuclear weapons—hadn’t been made like this before is perhaps the more impressive feat. The way Nolan weaves the two halves of the story together is masterful. However, the actors definitely do a lot of heavy lifting here.
It took me a second viewing to piece together that the black-and-white segments followed Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) while the color segments focused on J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). This visual stylization hearkened back to the way Nolan made Memento (2000) unique. The shifted timelines between the black-and-white/color segments evoked Dunkirk (2017)., I’m just glad that I could actually understand what everyone was saying, unlike in Tenet (2020). Ultimately, the way Nolan films his movies with practical effects adds a layer of realism that can’t be faked. The emotional realization of what they had just released on the world still gives me chills.
Of course, the style and way a movie looks can only take it so far toward greatness. The actors in Oppenheimer all turned in excellent performances. It would surprise me if Robert Downey Jr. and Cillian Murphy didn’t receive nominations for acting Oscars when awards season hits. Similarly, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh helped to showcase the scientist’s womanizing tendencies. Even the minor characters like Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh), General Groves (Matt Damon), and Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett) were portrayed to their fullest. Overall, Oppenheimer is a timeless film that builds upon Christopher Nolan’s already successful cinematic career.
An all-star acting tour de force backed by Nolan’s brilliant directing, I give Oppenheimer 5.0 stars out of 5.
