About a week ago, my father and I went to go see the much anticipated “Oppenheimer”. As the film title obviously states, the movie centers around J. Robert Oppenheimer and the events leading up to the Hiroshima bombing, as well as the nasty aftermath. By the way, this is not a statement of my stance on the Hiroshima bombing, nor do I intend on stating my stance, as I hate politics and saw the movie just to see the movie. This is just what I got from the movie and, of course, my thoughts on the movie.
While I had nothing against Christopher Nolan, I never was a huge fan of him. With all due respect to the fans, I didn’t particularly care for “The Dark Knight”, but I do respect it (and Ledger did a very good job). I wouldn't say I'm a fan now, but I understand why he is acclaimed as this movie was kind of amazing. Just the way it was filmed, acted, and written was very well done. The build up to the actual test of the bombing got more and more intense the deeper we got into the movie and it more than delivered. The actual scene of the test was the best scene of the movie. In a weird way, it was both terrifying and beautiful. Terrifying obviously because we’re watching an atomic bomb go off, but it was so beautifully shot, you just can’t look away. It was GLORIOUS!
There are 2 sides of the writing that impressed me the most, the 1st being the mindset of Oppenheimer himself. I like that the movie didn’t overly sympathize or villainize him. They just painted him as a very complex human being, which he was. The movie pretty much showed why he was the right person for this project in the first place, as well as his guilt in the aftermath. That smooth transition of his personality was very well done. The 2nd being the nasty aftermath of the bomb, whereas, the burden of Oppenheimer's bomb caught up with him, plus he finds himself the center of a scandal. I don’t know if this was the movie's intention, but my dad and I both noted how much it eerily paralleled today’s political world. It’s as if we’ve come so far, but nothing has changed, which is quite pathetic. And you can’t help but squirm at the hypocrisy of it all.
The acting was spot on, as if every actor approached their role with ease (which I know probably wasn’t the case). Murphy, Downey Jr (AKA: Iron Man, RIP), and Blunt being the standouts in my opinion. Downey got more insane and slightly more unlikeable the deeper we got into the movie while Blunt, despite not having a lot to do, made the most of any time she was on screen. And of course, Murphy was amazing as Oppenheimer himself, as he really nailed his complexity and natural command. I would also like to call out Casey Affleck, who kind of scared me during his brief time.
Aside from the practice bomb scene, another thing I liked about the visuals was whenever Oppenheimer was in a, not necessarily intense, but uncomfortable mindset, it was represented by a nuclear bomb going off wherever he was, as well as its damage. It wasn’t even a panic attack, it was his mind in an uneasy place, and I really liked that.
Obviously, the only problem I had with the movie was how long it was. But at the same time, both the writing and acting was so intriguing that you stayed hooked. Like “Mission Impossible”, even the mellow moments of the movie will have you at the edge of your seat, which is probably the best part about both the writing and acting. I do highly recommend this movie and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did become an Oscar favorite. Thanks for reading.
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