Explosive Genius

Movies: Oppenheimer

The very first thing I want to say about Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated film about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is that it is loud as fuck. It's loud during the parts that are supposed to be loud, but it's also loud when people are having conversations, to the point where not only could you not hear the dialogue, it also seemed borderline comedic. Imagine two men yelling at each other while the swelling film score drowns them out. It's like "did someone fuck up?"

Apparently, this is just a Chris Nolan thing and he doesn't care. I remember seeing Interstellar, which had the exact same problem. Leaving the film, my friend said "the person who did the sound mixing for this movie should win the Razzie". Frankly, I find this annoying as hell. It's fine to have a loud soundtrack, but when your audience is straining to hear and you, the director, know this is an issue and don't care, it's arrogant and disrespectful to your audience. 

I mean, maybe this is Nolan's way of getting people to see his movies more than once because I'm already looking forward to being able to rewatch Oppenheimer at home with subtitles. So there you go. Even though it was ear-blastingly loud, it was also a good movie and I want to watch it again. I also think subtitles would help me understand all the science talk a little better. 

Oppenheimer is an epic film and some are calling it Christopher Nolan's "masterpiece". It certainly feels like a masterpiece, but I'm not fully convinced it actually is. I was impressed with the acting, which is excellent across the board. There were certain scenes that were truly outstanding, such as when they actually test the bomb for the first time. But the movie is also needlessly long and convoluted. Nolan aims to get a lot of information across in this movie. We learn about Oppenheimer's school years, his introduction to the Communist Party by his brother, his teaching years, his relationship with his wife and his lovers, him being recruited to oversee the Manhattan Project, his regret after he realizes that a fucking bomb will be used to kill people, his fall from grace due to the manipulations of Lewis Strauss, and Lewis Strauss's fall from grace. That's a lot. The movie is based on a book titled American Prometheus and damn if Nolan didn't try to film everything in the book.

But what's more is that there are multiple timelines in the movie and the events are not linear. So we're constantly jumping back and forth in time. And for a three hour movie, Oppenheimer is extraordinarily fast-paced. There are very few scenes that are just allowed to breathe. So when you pair a fast-paced film packed with a million details taking place on a non-linear timeline and you also can't fucking hear half the dialogue...it almost feels like it was intended to be confusing. It feels, as the expression goes, that it was trying to muddy the waters to make them appear deep.

That said, it's still a very interesting film. I guess if I knew more about the Manhattan Project I would have enjoyed it more. The cinematography is stunning. The acting, as I mentioned, is incredibly strong, especially Cillian Murphy as the titular "Opp" and Robert Downey Jr. as Oppenheimer's betrayer, Lewis Strauss. The other thing I'll say about this movie, which isn't really a shock, is that it's a very masculine, white movie. There are two significant roles for women in the film: the hectoring, alcoholic wife (Emily Blunt, wasted in a thankless and one-dimensional role) and the suicidal lover (Florence Pugh, who also deserves better). Both of these women are fully defined by their relationship to Oppenheimer. 

And then, let's be real, the movie doesn't REALLY let us think too hard about what Oppenheimer's genius wrought. We don't see the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We don't see the aftermath. All we get is Oppenheimer's tortured soul. I mean, I get it. The movie is titled Oppenheimer. The film tries to make the point that if we didn't build the bomb, someone else would. Which is true...but the introspection stops about where you'd expect. Which is fine. History happened how it happened. We Americans like to think we're the good guys. And hell, maybe we're just as "good" or bad as anyone else in this crazy world. But I think the movie plays more at appearing nuanced than actually being nuanced. Which seems to be par for the course for Christopher Nolan. He's very much a "both sides" type of director. He's not radical. And giving space for Oppenheimer to regret his involvement is about as radical as this movie could possibly get.

So. Barbenheimer. I saw Barbie and it didn't quite live up to what I wanted it to be. I saw Oppenheimer and it didn't quite live up to what I wanted it to be. So maybe this issue is that I'm going into these movies with expectations that are too damn high. 

Oppenheimer is a good movie and worth watching again. But there's a better movie underneath all the confusion and noise.

Grade: B+