Jeremiah Panhorst
On July 16, 1945, the nuclear age began. Seconds after the explosion came a huge blast wave, heat searing out across the desert. It was followed by a massive sound and vibration that vaporized everything for miles away, thus providing the atomic age with a visual image that has become imprinted on the human consciousness as a symbol of power and awesome destruction. This is what Robert Oppenheimer and members at Los Alamos witnessed on that day. Robert knew that we can never go back.
The Oppenheimer film is played out similarly to a great courtroom drama. We get a few glimpses of the past from our two main characters throughout the picture. It is like the audience is getting an opportunity to view inside Robert Oppenheimer’s and Lewis Strauss’ personal pensieve that you can only find in the world of the Harry Potter series. These key moments in their lives lead up to the conclusion of the Oppenheimer trial. This form of storytelling pays off beautifully in the end when everything comes together. It is Christopher Nolan at his best!
The art of putting us in the mind of our main protagonist works so well in this film. One of my favorite examples is Oppenheimer‘s speech to the Manhattan Project team. During the speech, Oppenheimer visualizes some of the predominant damage put upon the victims in Japan after America used his weapon. The horror of what was inflicted by his creation flooded his mind at that moment and we the audience can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for those people. It was a clever and settled way of displaying the truth about what was done.
The acting was phenomenal in this picture. Both Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr. had career-high performances, and the film is anchored by Cillian Murphy. Murphy became Robert Oppenheimer, both physically and mentally. He is my early favorite to win Best Actor at the upcoming Oscars.
The technical accomplishments sell this movie. From the sound to the cinematography, everything was perfect, but the picture will be remembered by Ludwig Göransson’s brilliant score! This mind-blowing music sets the tone immediately and continues to grow throughout the length of the film.
Oppenheimer is one of those movies that knows what it is and never loses sight of that. The audience walks away with a better understanding of what was going through the mind of this complicated person who was asked to create something that changed the world. In the end, the film reminds us that humanity is the most dangerous weapon.
5 Stars