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[DISCUSSION] Oppenheimer (Spoilers)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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Movies
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I didn’t love it.
I respect the technical mastery on display here. But this is my problem with a lot of Christopher Nolan movies: it’s devoid of any emotional connection. I just felt empty and hollow at the end of it. Didn’t help that the first 30 minutes felt so disjointed and the pacing really struggled. I’ve never been a fan of his sound editing/mixing and same applied here. It was loud and bombastic but half the time I couldn’t hear the damn dialogue. The movie was way overscored and I rolled my eyes at some unnecessary inserts and on-the-nose exposition.
I also hated the way female characters were handled in the movie, just like most of Nolan’s previous work. I’m very iffy about the screenplay and editing too. The movie didn’t need the typical Nolan-esque non-linear format; it actually took a lot away from it.
On the other hand, it was a god damn tour de force from Cillian Murphy and equally excellent work from Robert Downey Jr. Emily Blunt was also stellar in a very limited role and she made a meal out of what she could. Should be easy Oscar nominations for Murphy and Downey.
Oh but that lead up to the final Los Alamos test was thrilling and expertly executed. Downey also crushed the last act of the film.
Definitely some good stuff here but I’m underwhelmed by the overall product. But I say that about every Nolan movie, save for I guess The Prestige and Memento, and to a lesser extent, Dunkirk.
I didn't love it even more than you.
After waiting a month to see it in the true-IMAX theater that Nolan used for projection tests (tix were sold-out that far in advance, unless you wanted to sit in the first 2 rows)--I ended up walking out around the 90 minute mark.
Other than ego, I cannot for the life of me figure out why Nolan felt he had to shoot a movie that is a lot of close-ups of actors talking indoors in full, 15-perf, 70mm IMAX.
Bottom line is that I was just incredibly bored and emotionally uninvolved in anything that was happening. I'm quite familiar with post-war, McCarthy-era witch hunts, so there was no drama there for me.
I enjoyed The Prestige and The Dark Knight--but Nolan just doesn't impress me as a director any more.
@wilberfan @mancy Oppenheimer represented Nolan's strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker.
Nolan has never been afraid to challenge his audience intellectually, so the scenes where smart characters are engaged into rigorous scientific debate is where Oppenheimer works. For audiences who enjoyed Apollo 13, A Dangerous Mind and Hidden Figures, this film fits snugly into that category.
But the characters are outdated stereotypes, especially the women, wasting the talents of Pugh and Blunt.