TMS Movie Review: Oppenheimer
(Universal Pictures)
Ten days after Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, Part 1 and on the same weekend as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, Christopher Nolan’s WWII drama Oppenheimer also hits theaters. People were expecting the historical piece to do well. After all, Nolan has a dedicated following since his Batman/Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) and other hits like Memento (2000), The Prestige (2006) and Inception (2010). War themed features usually do well with older audiences and Nolan also has the distinction of filling up his casts with superstars. What a lot of people—even box-office experts—didn’t see coming was Oppenheimer making $175M during its opening, let alone possibly becoming the filmmaker’s biggest BO performance. You could be thinking, this is the power of the Barbenheimer meme, which it is to an extent. But I think people also got the best of counter programming.
Oppenheimer is, of course, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), physicist and inventor of the atomic bomb. Throughout the epic 3-hour runtime, we see JRO’s rise from physics student, to leading The Manhattan Project from 1940 to 1945 alongside Gen. Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), to various court hearings in 1954-59 involving US Atomic Energy Senior Member Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.). During all this, Robert is also dodging accusations of communism via affiliations, and struggles with his marriage to wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) and infrequent love affair with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh).
(Universal Pictures)
Featuring ‘more stars than in the heavens,’ as they used to say, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Tony Goldwyn, Jason Clarke, Olivia Thirlby, Alex Wolff, Matthew Modine and Gary Oldman are only some of the big names in Oppenheimer as well. Nolan takes double duty as screenwriter and director, while Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography and Jennifer Lame’s editing effectively add to the wondrous spectacle on screen. Visually, Oppenheimer delivers since direction, atmosphere and aesthetic are Nolan’s strengths. Murphy and Damon are fine leading the story, RDJ in particular gives us a fine post-Iron Man performance, and the all-star cast is well utilized as a whole. To fully appreciate the huge explosions and use of B&W + color cinematography, the giant screen experience might be worth it. Two weaknesses of the period drama are my general strife with Nolan: stilted dialogue and blatant expository monologues. They’re not a complete detriment to the film’s quality, but they are what they are. Unfortunately, another big issue was Pugh’s presence being wasted with topless shots for half her screentime and then having to succumb to a familiar trope in Nolan films. But the acting and direction mainly make up for the script’s faults.
Most importantly, who was expecting summer movies to skyrocket this late into the season after such an underwhelming start? Between action/adventure with M:I7, comedy with Barbie and drama with Oppenheimer, these are the kind of options you want to see at the theaters for vacation or just a weekend.