Review of Oppenheimer (2023) by Trolisjw — 26 Jul 2023

It's almost as if the trajectory of Christopher Nolan's career was leading up to this film, but I don't think I was expecting "Oppenheimer" to leave me this moved as this very well could be the best film he's ever directed and his actual masterpiece. Being based on the book "American Prometheus," we get the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer who was brought on by Lewis Strauss to helm the Manhattan Project that led to the creation of the atomic bomb but Nolan's focus was on the mam himself and not the bomb which proves to be brilliant as we get a deep and haunting character study of the aftermath and see how this action led to not only thousands of deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the guilt and weight that the "man who moved the earth" was forced to live with. Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer proves to be the best casting choice made for this biopic as his eyes in close-ups tell you everything you need to know about what he's thinking, but in addition this brilliant actor conveys so much conviction and deep regret for all of his skeletons that you're left with a broken man who started off doing something monumental with ambitious intentions but slowly realizes what he's just actually done to the rest of the world, but Robert Downey Jr. as Strauss has my lock already for Best Supporting Actor with what could be his best career work as a man who proves to be more than an antagonist in this film.

Nolan's love for practical effects sees him deliver a truly monumental achievement as there's not one single shot of CGI in this film, which is combined with some gorgeous cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema but Ludwig Gorranson's music for this film might be his best ever as it cues and swells all throughout the 3-hour runtime and makes this film feel like a thriller and horror movie because of how intense it can get depending on the scene and characters it's focused on ay the moment. Emily Blunt might also get a Beat Supporting Actress nomination as her work as Oppenheimer's wife Kitty sees her as a woman who endures just as much of the pain her husband does as she tries her best to support him even when the walls are closing in and her scene in the final act of this film during an interrogation is just spectacular, and the number of actors in this film is just beyond ridiculous ranging from Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Modine, Jason Clarke, Josh Peck, and many many more. With this being a 3-hour runtime, the film feels as if it's missing 30 minutes somewhere as it flows better than most films of this length as the dialogue and characters keep you hooked within the story especially as the story is weaving between the color scenes which are completely subjective to Oppenheimer while the black and white are objective to everyone else, but the strength is how much this film paints the man as a deeply complex character with his past demons exposed but also someone who understood the repercussions and fallout from the contributions to something revolutionary and I honestly can't wait to revisit this again. Nolan proves yet again why he's one of the most important filmmakers working today as he made a mature and profound dramatic biopic about one of the most important men in American and world history.