TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

Is Oppenheimer now my favorite Christopher Nolan movie? 

The latest movie from director Chistopher Nolan is Oppenheimer. The movie is about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, including  his role in the Manhattan project. The movie stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer,  Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves Jr, and Robert Downey Jr as Lewis Strauss. Christopher Nolan is the director and screenwriter of the movie. As of this writing the movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 94% with an audience score of 93%. 

The movie opens with a young Oppenheimer going across Europe learning physics from the world’s most brilliant scientists, and then lands himself in the United States, where he’s a professor at Berkeley.  Like many other Nolan movies, the timeline is not linear, and mostly jumps between three different timelines. The major timelines are Oppenheimer and other scientists building the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, Oppenheimer’s security clearance hearing, and Senate confirmation of Lewis Straus. The plot can get confusing at times , but  with the cutbacks to the different timelines, it doesn’t allow many dull moments, even in a three hour movie. The movie was written by Nolan in the first person, and I believe this helps with the pacing of the movie. There’s some black and white scenes in the movie. From what I read, it looks like these scenes are in the perspective of Lewis Strauss, while the remaining movie in color is in the first person of Oppenheimer. 

The major buildup of the movie is the Trinity testing in Los Alamos. Only Nolan can bring a scene where we all know what’s going to happen, but you’re still on the edge of your seat. The cinematography was shot beautifully, and the sound editing of the sound waves and explosions  was breathtaking. The whole movie should be watched in IMAX, but this scene alone is what makes the experience worth it. I know not everyone has an IMAX in their town, but you should still see it on the big screen!

This movie has a huge ensemble cast, and well known actors pop in and out of scenes in the movie. Several character actors from Nolan’s filmography also pop in. I thought Emily Blunt was wasted in her role, as she’s an amazing actress, and she wasn’t utilized enough. I felt like Matt Damon was miscasted, and he was in a different movie, compared to everyone else.  Josh Hartnett was a delighted surprise when I watched this movie, and I thought he went toe to toe with the scenes he had with Cillian Murphy. The person I believe who stole the show was Robert Downey Jr. His acting, especially in the third act of the movie, will definitely get some Oscar buzz come awards season. 

My overall thought of the movie was that Christopher Nolan is back on top form. I feel some of his more recent movies were decisive at best (excluding Dunkirk).  As of right now, Oppenheimer is my favorite movie of 2023. This movie will get plenty of buzz for the technical awards, best movie, & best director at the upcoming Oscars. 

I still think the Dark Knight is Nolan’s best movie, and will always have a special place in my movie heart. Oppenheimer did give it a run for its money, but Dark Knight I feel will have a bigger impact in the movie culture, than Oppenheimer will. I give this movie a 4.4 out of 5.