Oppenheimer: A Haunting Look At A Complex Figure

The lesson from this weekend between the success of both Barbie and Oppenheimer is one that flies in the face of what the studios are trying to do with AI in the media, causing both the SAG-AFTRA and the WGA strikes. The lesson they should take away from all this is that when you give a director money and space to make a project the way they want to and it is something they are passionate about, they will come away with some of the best cinematic works of that year. Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer is another example of one of the strongest working directors just doing what he does best which allows what could have been a mundane biopic into something that is engaging and horrifying.

Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his origins, his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb, and his downfall as he became an outspoken advocate against the hydrogen bomb program. The cast is massive and includes Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, David Dastmachian, Gary Oldman (who has now played both Truman and Churchill), Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Alden Ehrenreich, Kenneth Branagh, David Krumholtz, and James D’Arcy.

The film is just a masterclass in acting where every actor who enters the movie makes a strong case for an Oscar nomination. It is easy to look at someone like Robert Downey Jr. and see what he’s done for the last 15 or so years and forget what a talented actor he truly is, but even when compared to Chaplin or Natural Born Killers, he puts on a career-best performance and is an easy pick for Best Supporting Actor. Cillian Murphy is also fantastic in the lead with a very nuanced and subtle performance. A few actors who have never really gotten the chance to show off their abilities make the most of this film including Alden Ehrenreich (probably most well-known to audiences as Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story), James D’Arcy (probably most well-known as Jarvis in Agent Carter), and Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) who has a small but very memorable role.

If there are technical categories in which this movie will win an Oscar, it is probably Best Sound and Best Score. The music in this film is just unrelenting and near-constant to the point where, when the music is taken away, it is poignant and haunting. The sound mix of the explosions when they are doing the various tests conveys a sense of scale and distance without just being louder. This blends with the actual test of the atomic bomb to create a sense of dread as it is about to happen that is not dissimilar from the ending of The Big Short because both play on a sense of dramatic irony where the viewer knows what happens next while the characters in the movie do not.

Oppenheimer is a must-watch movie and must be watched on the biggest screen possible. It is beautiful, it is haunting, it is suspenseful, and it flows so well that it never overstays its welcome despite being just about three hours long. It is hands down the best movie of the summer and will likely be considered one of the best movies of 2023.

Final Rating: 10/10