Oppenheimer (2023)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
One of the most anticipated films of the summer, Christopher Nolan’s biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer is finally here and feels like a significant cinematic event.
Cillian Murphy gives the performance of his career, and future Oscar nominations may come calling for Robert Downey, Jr. and Emily Blunt when awards season returns.
A dense, swirling, dizzying cinematic experience, with Nolan building tension with words and conflict, as opposed to the more traditional action and science-fiction foundation he has become known for.
NO
This is a talk-heavy, non-linear story that lacks significant context around some of the historical facts and figures Nolan places in his screenplay. A portion of the viewing audience is likely going to have a difficult time following all of this, even if they concentrate and focus on everything coming at them.
If you are expecting something akin to the Batman trilogy, Dunkirk, or Inception or Interstellar, this is a different Christopher Nolan movie than you have seen before.
Many critics are in love with this movie. I am not sure the general public will be as open and affirming when they settle in and see the final product.
OUR REVIEW
Expansive, dense, and undoubtedly a film more accurately judged by time rather than immediate reactions, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer serves as a three-hour treatise on not only J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the origins of nuclear armament, but also on how fear, paranoia, and influence can dismantle even the most brilliant minds.
As a filmmaker who has never been content in conforming to conventional storytelling, Nolan’s screenplay, adapted from the extensive 700-page-plus biography “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” (written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin in 2005), propels us forward and backward in a dizzying, somewhat disorienting biopic that calls to mind Oliver Stone’s JFK.
In broad strokes, there is much to celebrate in Nolan’s 12th feature. Though not comparable in genre to his previous work, he remains a compelling dramatic filmmaker. Brandishing a buzzing, almost feverish approach to his biopic, he immerses us directly into the story, eventually building to moments of heightened tension and conflict.
While much of the conflict here is verbal in nature, Nolan’s buildup to the legendary June 1945 Trinity Test, where Oppenheimer’s team observes the detonation of their very own creation - the first-ever nuclear bomb - is a shining example of how the writer/director can layer moment after moment and keep us rippling with anticipation.
While the Trinity Test delivers an all-time Nolan sequence, for a considerable amount of time in the film we find ourselves watching two concurrent hearings - one a congressional confirmation hearing of Atomic Energy Commission President Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.), largely shot in black-and-white, as he is being considered for the Secretary of Commerce role in the Eisenhower White House. A second takes place in a claustrophobic conference room as Oppenheimer is having renewal of his security clearance evaluated in a heavily tilted setting; one where his lone legal representative tries to navigate a hearing that feels pre-determined in stripping Oppenheimer of both his legacy and reputation.
Oppenheimer envelopes, and at times, overwhelms you. Within minutes, the film embeds us into the physicist’s world and deep into the recesses of his mind. Jennifer Lame’s precise editing is sudden and swift, never lingering too long, reflecting the rapid pace at which Oppenheimer’s mind operates. At times, we move too swiftly and, as a viewer, you become awash in scholarly discussions about quantum mechanics, nuclear isotopes, and theoretical formulas. Oppenheimer’s tormented mind offers little room to breathe, and Nolan often paces his film at a similarly breathtaking speed.
Below the line, Ludwig Göransson’s score is truly unrelenting, potentially divisive in its final presentation, and ever-present with its orchestral swings and flourishes. While the sound mix proves largely impressive, I did have some issues picking up elements of dialogue. Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography captures a vivid and reflective tone, meticulously depicting moments both large and small.
In his portrayal of Oppenheimer, this is Cillian Murphy’s finest performance to date. His rhythmic cadence and measured determination is less of a performance and more the embodiment of a man who changed the world, but wrestled with grave concerns over his actions. Murphy’s trademark blue eyes are full of watery burden, often fixated on a thought, process, or plan of action. A vulnerability surfaces in his later years, when Lieutenant General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) appoints him to lead the secretive Manhattan Project at the makeshift Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico in 1942. Just some three years later, and weeks after the Trinity Test, Oppenheimer would learn, like the rest of the world, that his team’s creation would be used by the United States to effectively end World War II, with nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Japan, in August 1945.
Nolan theorizes that a growing anguish and turmoil regarding his signature achievement made Oppenheimer almost fallible, a man coming to terms with the consequences of his actions. As someone celebrated as an American hero, Nolan’s presentation of Oppenheimer is a fascinating one - was he simply caught up in the challenge of creating the most destructive weapon known to mankind or was he quietly reserved and questioning the process all along?
Nolan and Murphy break through the aura of the man, showcasing a flawed genius - steadfast, uncompromising, and almost painfully restrained in his professional life. A known womanizer, his extramarital affairs, which included longtime girlfriend Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), would continue after his marriage to biologist and former communist, Kitty Puening (Emily Blunt). Oppenheimer’s questionable connections to Communism in the 1930s would also resurface, with Strauss publicly questioning his loyalty during the “Red Scare” which followed the end of World War II.
The film’s quick-cut approach mirrors the act of rifling through one’s memories. Consequently, the extensive cast Nolan has assembled, consisting of recognizable actors portraying scientists, professors, politicians, and government officials, can become nearly impossible to track and follow. Moreover, minimal context is provided to explain the significance of many characters who influence the story. The numerous cameos and appearances, including Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Matthew Modine, David Dastmalchan, and Dane DeHaan, among others, rush in and out without significant development. One exception occurs with Josh Hartnett, notable as Ernest Lawrence, a colleague and mentor of Oppenheimer’s, whose work on separating uranium isotopes influenced the Manhattan Project.
While Nolan elicits a powerhouse performance from Downey, Jr., there are inconsistencies in how certain characters are positioned in terms of the ultimate impact they have in the film’s final act.
Also problematic is the way Nolan presents both Pugh and Blunt, each underwritten and one-note in their depth and substance. Though Blunt delivers big in a showy moment that may very well place her in Oscar consideration (Downey, Jr. and Murphy will almost certainly exist in those same conversations), Nolan frames her as little more than a negligent drunk, fixated on demanding her husband fight to preserve his legacy. Pugh’s character, intentionally scattered and difficult to read, is simply reduced to Oppenheimer’s lustful gaze, including one unintentionally comic scene, imagined by Oppenheimer, which nearly stops the film dead in its tracks.
Some critics have already championed Oppenheimer as one of the greatest films of the 21st century. Again, time will tell. The film carries an inaccessibility, despite Nolan’s attempts to make a powerful, defiant, and damning statement on American exceptionalism. Though many moments undeniably resonate, Oppenheimer is so tightly packed, we cannot get close - ironically kept at almost too safe a distance from the emotional detonations Nolan has worked so hard to create.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Alden Ehrenreich, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Dylan Arnold, Gustaf Skarsgård, David Krumholtz, Matthew Modine, David Dastmalchan, Tom Conti, Michael Angarano, Jack Quaid, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Dane DeHaan, Jason Clarke, James D’Arcy, Tony Goldwyn, Jefferson Hall, Devon Bostick, Alex Wolff, Scott Grimes, Josh Zuckerman, Matthias Schweighöfer, Christopher Denham, Macon Blair, James Remar, Gregory Jbara, Gary Oldman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan
Adapted from the novel, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Universal Pictures