We rented the movie Oppenheimer over the weekend and cozied up on the couch for its 3-hour runtime. As with any Christopher Nolan film, the cinematography and direction were incredible, and the first 2 hours of the movie raced by–it has a relentless pace.
I was surprised that the movie was only partially about the atomic bomb itself. That was more of the B-plot, with the A-plot focused on a political witch hunt against Oppenheimer. As compelling as that mystery is (and how it’s used as a storytelling device), I’ll just say that it was an interesting choice by the director. In some ways it felt like a 2-hour movie with a related documentary attached to it, particularly one that felt incredibly inconsequential compared to the immense loss of life in Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and the damage done to Native American territory of the testing site).
That said, there’s some amazing acting in the movie. I would not be surprised to see Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy win major awards in a few months. Also, it was fascinating to learn that Oppenheimer’s role in the creation of the bomb was less about quantum physics and more about project management.
What did you think about Oppenheimer?
Agreed. The movie was excellent. I’ve long been a Christopher Nolan fan. One choice that I found particularly interesting was the use of black and white for some scenes and full color for others. He used that technique in Memento so I thought it interesting he went back to it. I’ve seen different interpretations of this but the most compelling is the black and white scenes depicted the perspective of those observing and judging him, while the color scenes represented the nuance and vibrancy of his actual lived experience.
In any case, Oppenheimer is arguably a top 3 entry in his body of work.
I must have unrefined tastes. I thought it was boring, but I also was not watching consistently as I was preparing food for Thanksgiving – I dropped in consistently an hour in and I got frustrated with the scene changes. I liked the black and white scenes. Personally, I would have preferred to watch a documentary instead.
Exceptionally impressive from cinematography to acting, from costumes to the script. A+ all around. I’m a huge Cillian Murphy fan from Peaky Blinders and Robert Downey’s riches-to-rags-to-riches story is just amazing.