On Thursday night I went to the Enfield Cinemark to see Christopher Nolan’s 12th feature film, Oppenheimer. The film chronicles the shaky life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his extensive contributions to the creation of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film is billed as biopic, but plays a lot like a thriller and in some parts, a lot like a tense horror flick. If you have any interest in history or even are an avid fan of Christopher Nolan films, I highly recommend you see this on the largest screen possible.
The Good
2023 has been the year of the biopic thus far with Blackberry, Tetris, Reality, and Air, but none can hold a candle to the masterpiece that is Oppenheimer. I’ll definitely factor in some recency bias, but this might be the best biopic of all-time. In addition to that, this is the JFK of my generation. A story being told about something so influential, while pushing many boundaries and having uncomfortable elements makes for a masterpiece that resembles Oliver Stones 1991 cinematic escapade, JFK. Rather than breaking the fourth wall like in JFK, Nolan opts to return to his black and white and color versions of storytelling that he used in Memento to deliver many different interpretations of how the story actually occurred.
That was the first spot of genius in the film was the black and white vs color storytelling. The black and white storytelling comes for the perspective of Lewis Strauss and represents his perspective of the world and what occurred at this time as a conservative who embraced the assertive tactics of stifling communism. For the colored scenes, that was the story being told through the eyes of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. The different perspectives makes you have to take a side in the film. Do you believe that J. Robert Oppenheimer was somewhat forced to make the bomb, but still had heavy ties to the communist party and Strauss was correct? Or, was Oppenheimer a true patriot and his communist beliefs were in his past? It’s your choice to make and that’s what makes this film so brilliant.
Nolan Adds Horror Elements To A Biopic And It Works Beautifully
Very rarely will a biopic have elements of horror because a lot of biopics don’t usually cover “scary” topics. Even violent war films based on true stories like Hacksaw Ridge and American Sniper don’t have horror elements, but Oppenheimer does.
There’s a scene when Oppenheimer addresses a crowded gymnasium about the bombing and gives a half-hearted speech that riles up the crowd. As he’s giving it, he begins to dissociate from reality. He sees visions of the people in front of him having their flesh burned off as bright light shines; the same bright light he saw when he tested out the bomb in New Mexico. That 30 second sequence was one of the most gripping, jarring, and horrifying scenes I’ve ever seen. I shouldn’t say that it came out of no where, but I didn’t entirely expect to feel scared in that moment. It was supposed to be Oppenheimer’s triumphant speech about a groundbreaking invention, but it turned into his worst nightmare.
What that scene does a great job of doing is showing that Oppenheimer is an anti-war piece of cinema. Many people could watch this film and think that it’s about bombing the enemy and always being the best, but Nolan shows the regret and grief that Oppenheimer has because of his actions from building this bomb that pulverized hundreds of thousands of people. That regret turns to worry that his invention could lead to a chain reaction that in turn harms thousands of Americans.
Oppenheimer Draws Many Parallels To Miloš Forman’s Amadeus
One of the all-time great pieces of cinema is Miloš Forman’s 1984 film Amadeus. It follows the fictional story of the feud between composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Salieri is jealous of Mozart’s success due to his immense talent along with that fact that Mozart isn’t a “serious” person. He curses at God because he thinks that Mozart’s talent is a waste being in the body of a man who is an obscene alcoholic. Salieri attempts to sabotage Mozart’s opera leading to Salieri wanting to further kill Mozart. Mozart ends up dying, but has the true last laugh (literally). The same way Salieri and Mozart feuded, felt parallel to the rivalry between J. Robert Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss.
Oppenheimer embarrasses Strauss when speaking on isotopes and Strauss never forgets that. Strauss portrays Oppenheimer as this grand showman and leads to his closed door deposition on if he’s a communist. This goes onto turn some of Oppenheimer’s closest friends against him and have his character exposed. But by the end of the film, Strauss is the one who faces the most severe consequences while Oppenheimer is awarded the Enrico Fermi Award.
The characters of Strauss and Salieri have similar endings. Strauss is embarrassed by David Hill who exposes Strauss’ personal grudge against Oppenheimer, leading to him not being confirmed in the senate. For Salieri, he spends his remaining days in a mental institution. At the end of the day, none of these film’s main characters really stand as winners, but two are more vanquished than the others due to embarrassment. I view the two rivalries to be so similar because in both feuds, one person is constantly trying to take the other down, while the other is somewhat unbothered and is consumed by their own work.
Christopher Nolan Uses A Similar Framework For His Male Protagonists
When you look at a good portion of Nolan’s filmography, his main male protagonists all have similar traits. Whether it’s Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar, Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman in The Prestige, or Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer, they are all searching for something. What is they’re searching for is the existential meaning of their being in the field they study. They’re all looking to push themselves to the point of breaking or losing relationships to possibly save a different relationship, or to “win“; whatever that means in their minds. They’re so obsessed with what’s at stake that nothing else really matters.
McConaughey in Interstellar loses time with his family to explore black holes in space. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman put their own lives on the line in The Prestige to win a battle with one another for the sake of magic. And J. Robert Oppenheimer, portrayed by Cillian Murphy risks his reputation, people finding out about skeletons in his closet, and relationships to build the first atomic bomb.
I just find this extremely interesting because every time Nolan goes back to this well and uses this similar protagonist, who is more of an anti-hero, it works. These are some of his most known and most memorable characters because every man, including myself, has something they’re overly passionate about. If we we’re given the opportunity to pursue it while simultaneously risking things important to us, we’d take it. He taps into the male psyche and builds these relatable characters.
The Bad
After reading the good, you’ll realize that there isn’t a lot of bad in Oppenheimer, but there is some poor aspects. For one, Nolan struggles with name dropping. He tries to be subtle, but the attempt at being subtle feels like more of a sledgehammer hitting you over the head. Towards the end of Oppenheimer when Strauss and his senate aids are speaking about the votes he needs, one of the aids brings up a senator leading the charge against Strauss. He states “It’s a junior senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy.” Through the majority of the film, the dialogue is pristine, but Nolan attempts to sneak in this name drop that felt awkward. This isn’t the first time Nolan had a ridiculous name drop. In The Dark Knight Rises, Joseph Gordon-Levitt name drops Robin. It’s so forced that it adds to the somewhat ridiculous aspects of the film.
My only other small gripe that I had initially, but changed my mind on was the pacing of the storytelling. I thought some scenes were a little bit rushed and didn’t tell much about the characters being introduced, but after thinking about the film, I thought that was okay. Once I knew the ending and how everything unravels, I realized I didn’t need this long, extensive backstory on every scientist or communist that was in the movie. Aside from a traumatizing name drop that made me audibly laugh, Oppenheimer is damn near perfect.
Performance Report Card
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer: A
GIVE HIM HIS OSCAR. No performance from this year has or will be able to match the magic that Cillian Murphy brought to the screen playing J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was charming in a quaint way while also being remarkably believable as this legendary physicist. Where I commend him most is that when he’d see visions of peoples burning skin and be scared of the effects of the bomb, he didn’t go over the top to look stunned. He appeared to disassociate with his surroundings so well, almost like he had severe PTSD. Just a brilliant role that I can’t see anyone topping this year.
Emily Blunt as Katherine Oppenheimer: A
If we’re giving Cillian Murphy his Oscar, then Emily Blunt should follow. Throughout the whole film, you’re waiting for her to have her moment. You continue to wait and wait, but then it comes when she’s being deposed by Roger Robb. Robb questions her about her ties to the communist party and she puts him in a coffin with her witty and angry responses. In addition, she adds a monumental amount of depth to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s depositions because she’s sitting there, watching behind her husband as he has to discuss an affair he had and his decision making when creating the bomb. Emily Blunt was genius in this role.
Florence Pugh as Jean Talock: A
2023 has been such a W year for Florence Pugh. I think she could get nominated for two Oscars with Oppenheimer and A Good Person. Her performance brought out so much emotion and her suicide legitimately shook me to my core. It was unexpected and you felt so bad for Oppenheimer because he did love Talock. He’d bring her flowers and showed care for her, but as he got bigger, he could no longer be there for her and this broke her. And Pugh did such a good job showing the stages of a person breaking down, eventually leading to suicide.
Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss: A
Robert Downey Jr. is SO BACK. For over 15 years, Downey was a cartoon of an actor playing a superhero, but a lot of people knew that there was acting genius there as he was great in Zodiac, U.S. Marshalls, and Tropic Thunder. We were just awaiting his return and we got it with Oppenheimer. I’ll be honest, in the first half of the film, I wasn’t really blown away, but the final thirty minutes is masterful. He is so great when he’s having a breakdown realizing that Hill is burying him. He’s manic in the best way possible and you don’t know how to feel. You want to feel bad for him, but he’s also a villain that tried to take Oppenheimer down. Nevertheless, start the Robert Downey Jr. Oscar campaign.
Matt Damon as General Groves: B-
While I think Matt Damon’s performance was good as General Groves, we need to stop putting him in biopics. He’s been in six or seven in the 21st century and doesn’t really blend into the characters like other actors. With Murphy, Blunt, Pugh, and Hartnett, you thought that they were the characters they were playing. For Damon, I found myself thinking “Oh, that’s Matt Damon” rather than “That’s General Groves.“
Benny Safdie as Edward Teller: A-
Seeing the relationship between Teller and Oppenheimer was interesting. At times it felt like they were at each others throats, but in other instances, it was as if they were thick as thieves. Safdie was a part of two great scenes though that coincide with one another. When he turns on Oppenheimer in the deposition, I was shocked. That in turn leads to the scene where Oppenheimer is receiving the Enrico Fermi Award and Katherine Oppenheimer refuses to shake his hand. The look on his face was so powerful when he realized that he’d turned his back on a friend.
Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence: A
I anticipated Florence Pugh, Cillian Murphy, and Emily Blunt to be great. However, I didn’t expect to love Josh Hartnett as much as I did. He was dynamite. The way he blended into this role of Ernest Lawrence was insane and his character was so pivotal in the storytelling of the film. You never fully knew where he stood with Oppenheimer because he clearly respected him as a scientist, but hated his politics. If I had to nominate someone from this film for Best Supporting Actor, it’d be Hartnett by a mile.
Rami Malek as David Hill: B
I’ll preface this by saying I’m not a fan of Rami Malek, and I think that’s because I hold some animosity towards him due to his win at the 91st Academy Awards for Best Actor over Christian Bale and Willem Dafoe. With that out of the way, he had maybe the most shocking scene in the whole deposition process. He comes in and absolutely BODY BAGS Strauss and sells what he’s saying the entire time. I thought he was quite exquisite as David Hill.
Alden Ehrenreich as Senate Aide: A-
While I think Gary Oldman delivered the most powerful line of the film, Alden Ehrenreich gave a cutting blow to Strauss as Strauss realized his defeat. “Maybe they were worried about something important.” BOOM! He gave that line with such disdain for Strauss that it made me sit up in my seat and grin. He didn’t have a lot of screen time, but he won over the audience with that line.
David Krumholtz as Isidor Isaac Rabi: A-
One of the many outstanding performances from Oppenheimer came from David Krumholtz portraying Isidor Isaac Rabi. He added a nurturing and friendly element that a lot of the other characters lacked. While many were cold, Krumholtz possessed a warm aura and did a great job playing a character who actually cared about J. Robert Oppenheimer. At the end of the day, he was one of his only true friends. He made sure Oppenheimer would eat and would be an outlet for him in times of distress.
Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush: B
I love Matthew Modine. Any time he’s in a movie, he gives a good performance and Oppenheimer was no different. Much like a lot of the individuals in the film, he didn’t have a lot of screen time, but brought great emotion to his deposition with Roger Robb. I’d also note that he looked identical to the real life Vannevar Bush.
Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman: B+
Any role given to Gary Oldman is guaranteed to be a hit. Here in Oppenheimer, he didn’t have a lot of screen time, but made the most of it as President Truman. I actually find that he delivered the most pulverizing line in the whole movie when he says to a remorseful Oppenheimer, “Do you think anyone in Hiroshima or Nagasaki gives a shit about who dropped the bomb?” It was delivered with great vigor and was a great message for the whole film.
Casey Affleck as Boris Pash: C-
Just about every role was great in Oppenheimer, except for Casey Affleck. And the funny thing is, I can’t even blame him. He’s wildly miscast as Boris Pash, a man who “killed communists with his bare hands.” You hear that description and think of someone who is either big and strong or deranged looking and Affleck is neither. He gave a fine performance, but shouldn’t have been in this role.
David Dastmalchian as William L. Borden: B+
David Dastmalchian has played a small role in great films like Prisoners, Suicide Squad, and Blade Runner 2049, and in all of those films, he’s a man of few words. He’s a fantastic actor, and seeing his deposition against Oppenheimer was actually chilling. His words pierced the thin veil of Oppenheimer’s intelligent facade and felt extremely important to the film.
Jason Clarke as Roger Robb: A
In an unexpected and menacing role, Jason Clarke absolutely blows this role out of the water. He was overshadowed by a gigantic, top-heavy cast that I didn’t even know he was in the film. His role of trying to break Oppenheimer while deposing him was pure evil. Clarke at this role up and left no crumbs.
Oscar Potential
When it comes time for Oscar nominations, I expect Christopher Nolan and Oppenheimer to receive a boatload of nominations. In the technical and production categories, I anticipate that Oppenheimer will be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound. In the acting categories, I also believe Oppenheimer will be well represented. I’m anticipating nominations for Cillian Murphy for Best Actor, Emily Blunt for Best Supporting Actress, and Robert Downey Jr. (and possibly Josh Hartnett) for Best Supporting Actor.
With all of those nominations predicted, I don’t think Oppenheimer stops there. I think Christopher Nolan gets his second Best Director nomination and his third Best Picture nomination. While I’m certain it won’t have a Titanic or Ben-Hur style run of winning over ten Oscars, I do think it’ll have a solid showing. Maybe five to six wins, which’d be wildly impressive for an R-rated, biopic thriller.