Terrifyingly beautiful. Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film, Oppenheimer, is an incredibly important piece with its effective representation surrounding the dangers and distinctions between politics and science. This adaptation of the Manhattan Project reveals to audiences the ultimate power of creation, and its ability to generate consequences that can develop far beyond the scope of human control.
Cillian Murphy delivered a stern portrayal as J. Robert Oppenheimer, with a performance that gave understanding towards the specific decisions made by scientists and politicians during the era of World War II. The continuously building music throughout the 3 hour run time really gives the film the sense of importance it needs, with scenes that seamlessly blend through effective cinematography in b&w/color and sound. Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, was just spectacular and really gave emphasis to the human elements that are experienced by people in relation to the bomb’s creation and its following events. Albert Einstein portrayed by Tom Conti, really nailed the reality of the whole situation early on in screen-time that was so incredibly limited, which suggests his short dialogue as being essential to the films overall understanding. The ending of the film was powerful, and left a full theater of people I was in speechless.
Robert Downey Jr. was useful in his role, however it is arguably hard to assume his intimidating acting demeanor in this film isn’t a distancing tactic to separate this performance from his prior. Although the last hour is heavy on discussion and less visually informative, it incorporates what needed to be in a film that could have been much, much longer. For those like me who may not have an educated background in this specific historical event, the amount of characters and their relevance can be slightly hard to discern as some are on screen often and others only for a few minutes. However, the film still does its job of telling the story to any and all types of audiences who are willing to learn and reflect through Nolan’s work.
All in all, the message was terrifyingly powerful and made more so by the beautiful cinematography, acting, sounding, and storytelling. Cillian carries the film with amazing supporting performances from Blunt, Conti, Downey Jr., Damon, etc. If you love storytelling through film, this is the movie for you as Christopher Nolan truly lets the world experience the creation of the atomic bomb and its dangers in his latest 2023 film, Oppenheimer. Grab your tickets at Fandango.com