Oppenheimer

⭐ 5.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

You may have heard some casual movie fans say that they enjoyed this movie, but now it's my turn to review it. I, unlike other simpletons, have standards. Just look at my profile pic.

Anyways, if you are wondering if you should watch this movie, ask yourself, do you like good movies? If so, don't watch this. But if you like hearing drawn out court cases, and are wondering if Oppenheimer might have had communist connections, and also if a guy named Straus was unfair in his evaluation of if Oppenheimer had communist connections, then this is the one for you.

But for real, I was actually incredibly disappointed in this movie. I thought it had a million chances to not just say some really interesting things, but to make me feel things I had never felt before. This movie was primed to make me feel a sense of dread and disgust like no other movie could. What I really wanted was a movie where you get to know Oppenheimer, a guy in a tough position, and also get to know others who had a difficult choice and then had to live with it. Maybe some perspective from Truman, or the pilot who dropped it. How about some perspective from the Japanese soldiers or government or residents of Hiroshima? All tied up in a breathtaking climax of perhaps humanity's ugliest hour?

I know I shouldn't just be upset that this wasn't the movie I wanted. But I'm upset that the movie we got instead was so incredibly boring. Oppenheimer himself isn't interesting enough to have a full biopic made, or at least not a billion dollar budget one. I don't care about Straus, and I am just so puzzled that there was any emphasis on him. Who wanted to watch this?? Am I crazy? It's just very important to note beforehand that this movie is not about the atomic bomb, but about whether Oppenheimer gets to keep his security clearance in the 50s.

There was an hour of interesting movie in here. The part where they built the bomb was okay, and the detonation was astounding. Then there was fifteen minutes where Oppenheimer grappled with it. I simply cannot comprehend the decision to make the last hour. Especially because this movie was already two hours at that point! End it there!!! I have never felt so crazy as sitting through that last our. It felt like the appendices of Lord of the Rings but if Peter Jackson decided to read them on screen after Frodo set sail and we couldn't leave the theatre until he was done. What are we doing here?!

I could go on forever. I literally hated most of this movie. I thought the beginning was a mess, and the dialogue was hard to hear, and all really lame one-liners about science when I could hear. I love Nolan a lot for a lot of reasons, but he has an exposition problem, and this movie brought out the worst in his style. It was almost all exposition.

But again, I mostly hate that this could have been a masterpiece. What you thought was going to be the interesting part of this movie happens off screen. Instead it's just more Robert Downey Jr talking to lawyers or something.

So yeah, I'm mad. I'm mad I spent IMAX money on a movie with one visual scene, I'm mad I spent 3 hours watching lawyers talk, and I'm mad that I didn't like a single July blockbuster!! I'm also mad that this probably means we won't ever get the movie that this event warrants. I really can't recommend this movie to anyone because I would have never thought there was an audience for it, but I seem to be in the VAST minority here. So truly take this review with a grain of salt.