[FILM REVIEW] OPPENHEIMER Review (2023)
Summary: The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Year: 2023
Cinema Release Dates: 20th July 2023 (Australia), 20th July 2023 (Thailand), 21st July 2023 (UK), 21st July 2023 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: TBA
Country: UK, USA
Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriter: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Casey Affleck (Boris Pash), Michael Angarano (Robert Serber), Dylan Arnold (Frank Opponheimer), Ronald Auguste (J Ernest Wilkins), Michael Andrew Baker (Joe Volpe), Macon Blair (Lloyd Garrison), Devon Bostick (Seth Neddermeyer), Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr), Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer), Ross Buran (Lewis Strauss Jnr.), Guy Burnet (George Eltenton), Jason Clarke (Roger Robb), Tom Conti (Albert Einstein), Steve Coulter (James Conant), Jack Cutmore-Scott (Lyall Johnson), James D’Arcy (Patrick Blackett), Matt Damon (Leslie Groves), David Dastmalchian (William Borden), Danny Deferrari (Enrico Fermi), Dane DeHaan (Kenneth Nichols), Tim DeKay (Senator Pastore), Christopher Denham (Klaus Fuchs), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss), Emma Dumont (Jackie Oppenheimer), Alden Ehrenreich (Senate Aide), Trond Fausa (George Kistiakowsky), Harrison Gilbertson (Philip Morrison), Tony Goldwyn (Gordan Gray), John Gowans (Ward Evans), Scott Grimes (Counsel), Olli Haaskivi (Edward Condon), Harry Groener (Senator McGee), Jefferson Hall (Haakon Chevalier), Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence), Mate Haumann (Leo Szilard), Christine Heneise (Lady Bird Johnson), Steven Houska (Senator Scott), Gregor Jbara (Chariman Magnuson), Tom Jenkins (Richard Tolman), Rory Keane (Hartland Snyder), Ted King (Senator Bartlett), Kurt Koehler (Thomas Morgan), David Krumholtz (Isidor Rabi), Britt Kyle (Barbara Chevalier), Hap Lawrence (Lyndon Johnson), Louise Lombard (Ruth Tolman), Rami Malek (David Hill), Jessica Erin Martin (Charlotte Serber), Matthew Modine (Vannevar Bush), Cillian Murphy (J. Robert Oppenheimer), Gary Oldman (Harry Truman), Josh Peck (Kenneth Bainbridge), Florence Pugh (Jean Tatlock), Jack Quaid (Richard Feynman), James Remar (Henry Stimson), Will Roberts (George C. Marshall), David Rysdahl (Donald Hornig), Benny Safdie (Edward Teller), Matthias Schweighofer (Werner Heisenberg), Gustaf Skarsgard (Hans Bethe), Pat Skipper (James Byrnes), Sadie Stratton (Mary Washburn), Ryan Stubo (Paul Dirac), Olivia Thirlby (Lilli Hornig), James Urbaniak (Kurt Godel), Alex Wolff (Luis Alvarez), Josh Zuckerman (Rossi Lamanitz)
Running Time: 180 mins
Classification: MA15+ (Australia), 15 (Thailand), 15 (UK), R (USA)
OUR OPPENHEIMER REVIEWS
Dave Griffiths’ Oppenheimer Review
When it comes to how he is viewed by the cinema world director Christopher Nolan is now in rare air. He doesn’t need to make a film with crazy stunts to have one of his movies deemed a blockbuster – just having his name on the poster does that.
To be fair there are very directors that deserve that kind of credit but Nolan is certainly one of them. This is a man who started off making arthouse films like Memento and Insomnia and then he changed the comic book movie genre with his Batman trilogy – a franchise that showed that world that comic book movies could be solid, brilliant films. In amongst all of that he also delivered the masterpieces Inception and Dunkirk and even his films that have divided critics – The Prestige, Interstellar and Tenet – do deserve some credit for their originality.
Tenet though does throw in an interesting curve ball in the lead up to Oppenheimer though. It universally is perhaps Nolan’s worst received film which may be a reason for some nervousness amongst his fans with his latest epic being released… but everyone can take a sigh of relief because Oppenheimer is a masterpiece that sees Nolan back to his amazing best.
The film is told in two parts and chronicles the life of gifted scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy – Inception). The first part of the film explores his early struggles with lab work and then the pull from the influential Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jnr. – The Avengers) which saw Oppenhemier return to America to work as a lecturer.
From there we see his failed relationship with fellow scientist Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh – Black Widow), his introduction to the American Communist Party, his marriage to Kitty Openheimer (Emily Blunt – Edge Of Tomorrow) and his journey to being placed in charge of America’s Atomic Program under the watchful eye of Leslie Groves (Matt Damon – Air) as they try to create a weapon to end World War II.
Thes second part of the film revolves around the political led investigation into Oppenheimer after the events of World War II. It shows what happens when the relationship between Oppenheimer and Strauss had soured, after Oppenheimer inadvertently humiliated Strauss in public and an event where Strauss believed that Oppenheimer had bad-mouthed him to Albert Einstein (Tom Conti – Derailed), which led to Strauss beginning a farcical campaign to Oppenheimer brought down from his prestigious posts.
With Oppenheimer Nolan does what very few filmmakers do when making a biographical film – he shows all aspects of Oppenheimer’s life – the good and bad. Many filmmakers would have carefully avoided scenes such as the one where Oppenheimer nearly murders one of his lecturers or his attendance at Communist Party dinners, instead they would have tried to depict him as an angel. Even his extra-marital affair would have been swept under the carpet in an attempt to make him likable to the audience – but here Nolan bravely shows it all – warts and all. The result is a film where the audience feels like they have been told the whole story and can make up their own mind about Oppenheimer and his morals which leads to a pretty satisfactory state when they leave the cinema.
Nolan’s brilliance also comes to the fore with the way he tells this story. A lot of the scenes are brief, the dialogue is snappy but the whole story is told and the result is a film that doesn’t feel like its three-hour runtime. The short scenes keep the audience’s interest up and that is one of the true keys to making this film work.
Then there is of course the amazing sequence that depicts the night that the American Armed Forces get the chance to test Oppenheimer’s nuclear bomb. Of course anyone that knows anything about world history knows how that sequence is going to end but Nolan has written and directed it in such away that anybody watching it is sitting on the edge of their seat as the suspense level goes through the ceiling. Be warned your heart will race so much during those few minutes that you will feel like you are having a heart attack.
Then there are the brilliant acting performances throughout the film. Cillian Murphy is spectacular as Oppenheimer, so good in fact that it is going to take something pretty special to not see him walk home with a Best Actor award at the Oscars next year. Likewise an unrecognisable Robert Downey Jnr. is a standout as the film’s villain and he should perhaps be making some space on his mantle piece for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
With those two actors bringing their A-Game it would be very easy to over-look two other stunning performances in Oppenheimer. Matt Damon puts in a mature performance as an military officer who is often in two-minds about Oppenheimer while Florence Pugh is at her amazing best playing the flawed Jean Tatlock. Her scenes of mental anguish are a great reminder to Hollywood that Pugh is more than just a blockbuster actress.
There is no easier way to say it than Oppenheimer is a masterpiece. This brilliantly written and stunningly directed film allows its cast to put in the performances of their career and the result is a film that for generations will go down as a ‘must see’ film. It is safe for everybody to forget Tenet because Christopher Nolan has once again reminded audiences why he is one of the greatest directors of our generation.
David’s rating Out Of 5
Lee Griffiths’ and Kyle McGrath’s Oppenheimer Review
Kyle’s rating Out Of 5
Lee’s rating Out Of 5
Alex First’s Oppenheimer Review
Was he the devil or a saviour?
If J. Robert Oppenheimer didn’t invent the ultimate killing machine, would someone else from a rival superpower have done so?
These are just some of the questions addressed in the superbly rendered film Oppenheimer.
Master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Inception) has taken no short cuts and come up with a tension filled, intriguing look at how the world was changed irrevocably.
The first atomic bomb, named Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945. The second, known as Fat Man, fell on Nagasaki three days later.
Total casualties exceeded 200,000.
But as much as the film deals with the consequences of those actions, Oppenheimer spends a great deal of time in the lead up to the bombs being released.
It paints a picture of a seriously gifted mind (there are frequent parallels drawn to Albert Einstein), who had shortcomings.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, as portrayed by Cillian Murphy, was a much-feted theoretical physicist.
Born into a non-observant Jewish family, he was womaniser, chain smoker and a man with Communist leanings, at least for a while.
Oppenheimer, the movie, moves between time frames.
It establishes how his studies and teaching took him around the world, before he settled back in the United States.
His intellectual rigour was highly sought and he landed a job at a prestigious college run by Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr). Strauss would become chairman of the US Atomic Agency Commission.
Oppenheimer was subsequently prevailed upon to help the war effort by military officer Leslie Groves (Matt Damon).
Groves had overseen construction of the Pentagon. He was charged with directing the top-secret Manhattan Project, involving the development of the atomic bomb. The intent was to end WWII sooner rather than later.
So, Groves enlisted Oppenheimer and built a small town for him in a remote part of New Mexico. That enabled the latter and his team to carry out their work in isolation.
After developing the nuclear weapon, J. Robert Oppenheimer became increasingly concerned about its use and misuse.
This was the time of Harry S. Truman, when the House Un-American Activities Committee was established to expose Americans with Communist ties.
Oppenheimer was effectively put on trial. I say effectively because the body that investigated him wasn’t a legally constituted court.
At the same time, the pressure was turned up on the US Atomic Agency Commission chair.
Oppenheimer is an impressive film on every level.
Let’s face it, making physics – especially theoretical physics – interesting (stimulating even) to anyone other than science nerds is no mean feat.
But Nolan has managed to do just that.
He has left nothing to chance and his attention to detail is commendable.
There are so many threads and characters here. Three hours is a long time, but Nolan doesn’t waste a frame. Each scene is another piece of a highly political and, at times, deeply personal puzzle.
The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin.
Oppenheimer is infused with a series of scintillating performances, earnestly led by Cillian Murphy. His representation of the genius is remarkable and insightful.
Matt Damon is authoritative as his immediate superior, clearly just a cog in a bigger wheel that will see the world pivot.
Equally imposing is Robert Downey Jr, cast as a concerned, but arrogant “player”.
Emily Blunt plays Oppenheimer’s troubled, but pragmatic wife Kitty with distinction, lurching from addiction to devastation.
So, too, Florence Pugh, who excels as Oppenheimer’s lover Jean Tatlock – savvy in a bookish sense, but naïve and, ultimately, savaged.
As with many other cast members, there are notable layers to the main players’ respective performances, from which the film benefits enormously.
Josh Hartnett is cast as a pioneering American nuclear scientist and Casey Affleck as chief of Army counter-intelligence at the Presidio in San Francisco.
Kenneth Branagh is a Nobel Prize winning physicist, while Rami Malek is an associate experimental physicist.
Alternating imagery in colour and black and white, Hoyte van Hoytema’s evocative cinematography draws in the audience to the cat and mouse game at play.
Ludwig Göransson’s arresting score adds another stratum to the anxiousness evident throughout. A phenomenal cinematic achievement, Oppenheimer is undoubtedly the film of the year. Surely Oscars await.
Alex’s rating Out Of 5
Average Subculture rating Out Of 5
Other Oppenheimer Reviews:
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Trailer: