Oppenheimer Movie Review

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Christopher Nolan’s films, including Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight, have earned over $5 billion at the global box office. They’ve also received 11 Oscars, but they’ve never received Best Picture. “Oppenheimer” won’t get the director this award either, in my opinion.

The movie has a plethora of incredible actors. So much so that it’s hard to concentrate on who’s who because some had such minuscule time on display. Cillian Murphy was the perfect J. Robert Oppenheimer, not only using those eyes for the audience to feel what was going on in his mind, but he’s similar to the father of the Atom Bomb in other ways, as well.

Matt Damon plays General Groves. He and Oppenheimer have one of the movie’s most pleasant and affable scenes. It needed to be included so you could see that scientists and military officers have personalities and senses of humor; they can enjoy life.

I say this because, during a scene with his lover, Jean Tatlock, performed by Florence Pugh, Oppenheimer’s face showed very little enjoyment, even though he professed to love this woman. It was hard to be sure he had any feelings for anything based on the look he carried around.

Emily Blunt plays Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty. Kitty knew about his feelings for Jean, but despite thinking him weak, she stood by him. 

I was ignorant of the fact that the film was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book named American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and the late “Martin J. Sherwin. Being his biographer and knowing so much of his life, Kai Bird says, “He was one of America’s leading physicists and was on the cutting edge of quantum physics in the 1920s and ’30s.”

This comes across very well in the film.

There are times you wish the man had had more support instead of people, mainly Senator Lewis Strauss, remarkably depicted by Robert Downey, Jr., getting in his way.

There were so many other performers that this review would be a book if I told you about them, so let us get on with the movie and I’ll mention those who pop up.

Nolen shows us that Oppenheimer was a brilliant scientist who went to school and worked worldwide, becoming even brighter as he forged relationships with the most intelligent people on earth. When the idea of the Atom bomb comes into play, it is he who discovers a way to make it work without the troubles the Germans were having.

His invention is called Trinity. They make it work and are about to test it. Knowing what his creation is going to have the ability to do, Oppenheimer climbs the tower and spends a moment with it, perhaps telling it not to work… hoping it wouldn’t. Earlier, he foresees the destruction of the world, telling General Groves that it could have the ability to light the atmosphere on fire… and to destroy the world. Their scenes together are memorable, especially this particular one.

The movie is non-linear, going back and forth between Oppenheimer’s theoretical quantum physics and his being questioned about being a communist because his lover had been. If you can keep up with this three-hour-long film and if you’re into documentaries, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this film.

Oppenheimer says before testing begins, “These things are hard on your heart.” The bomb drops. What you’ve been waiting for since you heard of the movie’s release date finally begins.

There’s a colossal blast showing the power of the weapon. A bright orange and white illuminates their faces. There’s no sound, just rolling flames. Then the sound hits in waves, knocking some people over. President Truman is called at the Potsdam Conference, where he awaits the news about how it went.

We are spared what the Japanese experienced when the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. This testing sight would kill fewer people than hitting a larger city that some in government liked to visit. Another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki to show the Soviets that we meant business.

This needs to be seen for what it says about why it was done and how cities were chosen at random. We wanted to show our enemies that we have and will continue to have the mighty strength it takes to win ANY war. Once we dropped those bombs, we set off a chain reaction, giving us the ability to destroy the entire world. This movie will undoubtedly make you think. And think, you must.

But does it need to be seen in an IMAX? No. See it at your local theater and spend the extra cash on some popcorn. And remember to go to the potty… it’s way too much to ask of your bladder to wait if you’re getting some soda with your treat.