Oppenheimer review

Yes, I celebrated Barbenheimer, our new national holiday. 

And the no brainer was to see Oppenheimer, the latest from Christopher Nolan. Nolan is the best filmmaker of the 21st century not named Tarantino as far as I'm concerned. Yeah I was a bit let down and more than a bit perplexed by his last film Tenet, but even that film was crafted beautifully.

Oppenheimer is much more straightforward. In many ways this is a classic biopic, about the man most responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb. But in Nolan's hands it feels anything but routine.

Amongst a cast filled with some big stars, the main role went to Cilian Murphy, who is one of those actors who spends a long time being good in a lot of things, but without a lot of acclaim. I certainly expect his intense performance here to change that.

There is a little bit of Oppenheimer's story as he is studying physics at university, but the bulk of the story is his work on the Manhattan Project developing what would become the atomic bomb. 

This is the first 2/3 of the 3 hour film, and even though it is very talky and there are a lot of people to keep track of, I found it to be riveting.

The dramatic build up is to the first test of the bomb in New Mexico. That's one of the best sequences in recent memory both dramatically and with the sound design. The whole film is a technical marvel.

Up through that sequence I was sitting there thinking this was the best film of the 2020s. Then the last hour unfolds post-WW2, with the government (primarily a former colleague played by a barely recognizable Robert Downey Jr) trying to ruin Oppenheimer's career and reputation. 

Oppenheimer's political beliefs (or presumed anyway) had been on the government's radar before, but he was useful to them. But not once the job was done, and he himself had spoken out against the further use of these weapons. He had a belief that using them just once would convince the world that any notion of further such mass destruction weapons would ensure peace. Of course he was very wrong.

This last act of the film is compelling, and still expertly acted. Downey will be a likely Oscar nominee, and Emily Blunt (as Oppenheimer's wife), who had been a bit of a background presence earlier, gets to let loose herself. And the final moments are rather wrenching. But it overall isn't quite as good.

The bench on this cast is absurd. I haven't even mentioned the always glorious Florence Pugh, who turns what could have been a kind of extraneous love interest role into something vivid (and no, not just cause of THAT scene). Josh Hartnett and David Krumholtz (both unrecognizable at first) are fantastic as a couple of Oppenheimer's colleagues. Tom Conti brings great warmth to his couple scenes as Albert Einstein (really, he was involved). Was great seeing Olivia Thirlby pop up in a small role. Multiple Oscar winning actors show up for what are basically cameos. 

This is Nolan's best and most complete film since probably Inception. It's his JFK, his There Will Be Blood, all in one. I'm not sure if it's the best film of the decade, but definitely the year so far.