Oppenheimer

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Beans)

Let it be known that I was calling Oppenheimer “Oppie” well before I saw this movie. I just wanted a cute, fun little nickname that allowed me to know him better; I guess his colleagues thought the same thing!

This movie was a lot and I’m conflicted. I liked a lot about it, but there was a bunch I didn’t. I’ll start there. TOO LONG. They should’ve shaved a full hour off of this movie. It went from exploring the actions of this complex, nuanced mad scientist to rooting for him to get his security clearance. I know that’s a bit reductive but it’s how I felt.

Also, these timelines just annoyed me. I know Nolan is really good at this type of thing but it took a while to catch up. This next one is minor, but how in the hell is this little twink a womanizer?? Just seemed silly.

Now on to the good. I thought the story was really compelling. I was interested for most of the whole movie. Einstein was awesome, albeit a bit goofy! I have a hilarious TikTok about him if you want to see it. I loved that they equated a simple connection to communism as being as dangerous as, ya know, the war they were fighting. I think they captured American paranoia and ignorance very well.

I know it’s kind of trendy to hate America, especially a person in my position, but this movie really did make me hate them ever more. Just an awful, awful empire and this movie didn’t even show the worst bits of it. I initially gave it a higher score, but after some culmination this is where I land.