Hello everyone!
So I recently watched Oppenheimer (2023). This is one of those movies that is hard to review, not because there is not much to talk about, but because there is so much happening in this movie, like way more than I expected.
I heard about Oppenheimer for a long time before finally watching it and I knew it was directed by Christopher Nolan and that it was about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb. Knowing the story is one thing. Sitting down for a movie that lasts three hours is another. They differ.
This movie is long. But surprisingly, I never felt like it was simply a "long movie" for the sake of being long.
This review won't discuss any major events or twists from the movie.
The Story
Oppenheimer follows J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life and career, played by Cillian Murphy, focusing on his role in one of history is most significant scientific projects.
The movie isn't simply about science.
That was actually one of the things I found interesting about it.
A movie about the creation of the atomic bomb might focus on explaining physics experiments and scientific theories but Oppenheimer is more interested in the people behind the science.
It is about ambition.
It's about politics.
It is about responsibility.
It is about what happens when human beings gain the ability to create something that can change everything about completely.
And, most importantly, it is about the person at the center of this.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was not a simple character to understand, and that is what makes him interesting to watch.
But the movie doesn't make him feel like a hero or villain & we see sides of him through the story.
Cillian Murphy Was Incredible
Let's talk about Cillian Murphy.
I already knew he was a talented actor, especially from Peaky Blinders, but his performance here was something else.
He disappears into the character.
So Oppenheimer is not someone who is always shouting or doing dramatic stuff but a lot of his performance is in his expressions, body language, and how he reacts to everything happening around him.
There are moments where you can tell what he is thinking by looking at his face.
And, it is not easy to do.
Cillian Murphy carries a huge part of this movie on his shoulders, also I think he was one of the biggest reasons I stayed so invested in the story.
His appearance changes throughout the movie, but his eyes in addition to expressions stood out.
Tiredness and tension in his performance fit the character.
Christopher Nolan's Direction
We can not discuss Oppenheimer without mentioning Christopher Nolan.
Nolan has made complicated movies, and, Oppenheimer isn't one of his simplest.
The movie shows different parts of Oppenheimer's life & uses various perspectives & styles to tell the story.
At first, I had to pay close attention because the movie moves around frequently.
But once I understood what Nolan was doing, I started appreciating it more.
Rather than a biography from start to finish, Nolan creates something that feels like a collection of memories, events, conversations and consequences coming together.
The editing is especially important here.
The movie has a lot of characters, different timelines and, political discussions, but it keeps moving.
Sometimes quickly.
The Supporting Cast
The supporting cast in this movie is ridiculous.
There are many famous actors. Sometimes I thought, “Wait, that is actually him.”.
Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and many others all have roles in the movie.
I liked that most of these characters did not seem to be present just to give a famous actor a role.
They all add something to the story.
Robert Downey Jr. especially surprised me.
I have seen him in many Marvel movies, so it was refreshing, like, seeing him in a different kind of role, his performance here more restrained and serious, and I thought he did a great job.
Emily Blunt also gives a strong performance, as well as her character adds perspective to Oppenheimer's life.
The cast really makes the movie feel much bigger than just one person's story.
The Cinematography
Oppenheimer impresses.
There are a lot of close ups, especially during conversations, in addition to the movie uses light and shadow extremely well.
There are also abstract visual sequences that represent thoughts, ideas &, scientific concepts.
These moments are some of the most interesting visuals in the movie because Nolan doesn't always explain everything with dialogue.
Sometimes you see something and know it shows what's happening inside Oppenheimer's mind.
There are large scale scenes.
When the movie shows something enormous, you feel its scale.
The Sound
The sound design deserves its own section.
This movie is loud.
Very loud.
The sound is not just there to make things exciting.
There is constant tension in the movie, and the sound plays a major role in creating it.
The music by Ludwig Göransson is also excellent.
So the soundtrack has this constant sense of urgency as well as even during conversations there can be music underneath that makes you feel like something important is happening.
There are moments where the music almost feels like a heartbeat.
The movie feels more intense.
Oppenheimer is a movie that benefits from being watched with headphones or a sound system.
The Science
I was worried I wouldn't understand the scientific side of this movie before watching it.
So I am not exactly someone who knows a lot about nuclear physics, hehe.
Thankfully, the movie does not expect you to understand every scientific detail.
It shares why the work matters without becoming a physics lesson.
The movie focuses more on the consequences of complicated scientific ideas rather than the ideas themselves.
And that is likely the correct decision.
The most interesting question isn't "How does this work?".
It's "What happens when we actually make it work?"
That's where the movie becomes powerful.
The Themes
This is where Oppenheimer became more than a historical movie for me.
The movie presents uncomfortable questions.
A scientist has a responsibility for the things they create.
Can scientific progress be separated from politics?.
What happens when ambition goes too far?.
Once something is created, you can't really take it back.
The movie does not simply give you easy answers.
Instead, it allows you to sit with these questions.
I liked that.
It would have been easy to make Oppenheimer into a simple hero who changed in our current environment, but the movie is much more complicated than that.
There are moments of achievement, but there is also fear, guilt, pressure and uncertainty.
The movie gets that something can be historically important but terrifying.
Is It Too Long?
This is probably the biggest question people have about Oppenheimer.
Three hours is a stretch.
And I am not going to pretend every single scene moved at the same speed.
There are sections where you need to pay attention, there are a lot of names, conversations, and, political events going on, and if you look away for a few minutes you can end up asking yourself who everyone is, yeah.
But I did not think the runtime ruined the experience.
The movie has a lot of story to tell, and cutting it down too much probably would have removed some of the context that makes the later parts meaningful.
I understand why some people find it slow.
This is not a movie you put on in the background while scrolling through your phone.
You have to watch it.
Conclusion
Overall, Oppenheimer (2023) was different from what I expected.
I expected a movie about the atomic bomb.
I watched a movie about a person, a group of scientists, politics, ambition, fear, responsibility and the consequences of changing in our current environment.
It's not a traditional action movie, even though there are some extremely intense moments.
It's not a straightforward biography either.
It's more like a psychological and historical Drama that uses the story of Oppenheimer to explore a much bigger question about humanity itself.
The performances are excellent, the cinematography is beautiful, the sound design is incredible and, the music adds another layer of tension to almost everything.
But I think the biggest strength of the movie is that it doesn't treat its subject as something simple.
There are no easy answers.
Even after the movie ended, I kept thinking about some of the questions it raised.
That's usually a sign for me.
Anyway thats it for this post. Please do give your reviews in the comments section below. I would really appreciate it :)
I'll be back with another one soon. So do follow me if you want to stay updated. Till then, Stay Happy and Stay Hydrated.
