Running time: 180 minutes
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Benny Safdie, Dane DeHaan
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
The story: Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is tasked with designing the ultimate weapon, but will this new weapon stop the war or bring about humankind’s demise?
The verdict: It’s probably a reasonably safe bet to assume that any Christopher Nolan film is going to be big. Big star power, big visuals, big sound and big interest from cinema goers. Oppenheimer falls into all those categories and perhaps more. For many this will be the film that they declare as Nolan’s magnum opus and that’s not an outlandish statement by any means.
As biopics go, this is a fascinating one and that’s before you have even applied any of Nolan’s mastery to the story. Cillian Murphy is a fantastic choice as the titular character. Oppenheimer shows the man himself as both a scientist and in his personal life, and Murphy plays each of these sides with nuance and dedication. The same can be said for all the cast and certainly the cast list is long and impressive enough that to single out every great performance would take up this entire review. I wouldn’t be surprised to see several nominations come awards’ season. However my favourite two performances that do merit recognition were that of Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh - more on that later though.
Technically, Oppenheimer cannot be faulted. Assured and crisp cinematography as always from Hoyte van Hoytema - he makes Nolan’s films look beautiful. Confident and considered direction (again as always) from Nolan. And my personal favourite? The sound design of course. No film does sound design the way Nolan does - impactful, brash and perfect every time.
Technical aspects and performances aside, what I actually loved most about Oppenheimer was how incredibly thought provoking it was. Oppenheimer is a three hour long moral quandary - it is philosophy and ethics disguised as an epic biopic. It is about men playing god, the morality of war and impossible dilemmas. It is about the burden of responsibility, the burden of genius and the burden of patriotism. Oppenheimer is a film that left me stunned - not necessarily by its cinematic scope but rather by its cerebral scope. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I left the screening disquieted by the very nature of man.
So with all the above in mind, it probably seems that Oppenheimer should be an easy five stars. However, I do have two comments that are preventing me from awarding Oppenheimer top marks.
The first observation is that, whilst I loved Oppenheimer, there are other Nolan films that I personally prefer. I love Nolan most when he’s in invented worlds and working with sci-fi and imagination. A perhaps pedantic point when Oppenheimer is so good but also salient when considering the work of an auteur like Nolan.
My second criticism was that I thought that Oppenheimer did its very few female characters a complete disservice. The only two female character with more than a few lines were played by Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt - two phenomenal actresses. And yet they were reduced to shallow caricatures. One has mental health issues and spends a reasonable amount of her screen time naked and the other is an alcoholic who neglects her children. There is never any proper exploration of these women who obviously played an important part in J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life and who were intelligent, fascinating people. These female characters exist merely on the periphery as demonstrations of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s prowess with women. That is why it is a credit to both Pugh and Blunt that they stood out and gave nuances to rather underwritten characters.
Overall, even with a few criticisms, it cannot be denied that Oppenheimer is another excellent piece of cinema from Nolan and undoubtedly one of the best films of the year thus far.
The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half
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