Oppenheimer Review: A Cinematic Masterpiece!

The sign of a truly brilliant filmmaker is one who can take stories, no matter what subject, and create a masterpiece that only they could pull off. Julius Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb,” is a notable figure in history but not one that we thought about often, until now.

The moment it was discussed that Christopher Nolan’s next film would be about the man behind the first nuclear weapons, it became evident that the work and notable history of J. Robert Oppenheimer would become a culturally significant moment in cinema and modern history.

Christopher Nolan’s impact on the history of cinema has been evident since the early 2000s and continues to become a talking point among audiences and critics as one of the most prominent film voices of our time. Oppenheimer not only continues Nolan’s legacy, but has solidified his status as one of the greatest filmmakers in cinematic history.

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Beginning as a professor at the UC Berkeley and the Caltech, J. Robert Oppenheimer expands his research on quantum physics. He is recruited as the head of the Manhattan Project during WWII in order to create the first atomic weapons to use against Japan to hopefully end the war. After the first detonation of the bomb, known as the Trinity Test, what happens next will live in our history books until the end of time. The fallout from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed everything, impacts that Nolan outlines in a script about the consequences of making a weapon that nobody could conceptualize until it was too late.

Films centering on historical events and famous figures is not a new concept, however, the way in which Nolan structures and examines Oppenheimer’s work expands to implications it had at the time and later on. It continues to display how the creation of weapons of mass destruction have impacted the world we live in today. Nolan is able to answer the question, why now and why him in the retelling of the history.

The moral complexities of Oppenheimer’s impact on WWII versus the entire planet is displayed in a heartbreaking and horrific way. Nolan’s ability to utilize powerful visuals and techniques without feeling the need to show fallout visuals of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an artistic choice that strengthens his telling of the story.

Oppenheimer is seamlessly edited by Jennifer Lame. The three hour runtime never feels this long because of Lame’s ability to never show distinct ends to sequences to begin a new one. The film can be divided into three parts but the entirety of the film is impossible to section off because of Lame’s talent and Nolan’s structure of the film in a non-chronological order.

The visuals, score (beautifully conducted by Ludwig Göransson), and sound design will certainly be recognized come award season. Nolan doesn’t just depend on the awaiting of the bomb to display his sound design choices, he utilizes it throughout at various times to signify explosions in thoughts, realizations, and moral dilemmas.

A note other filmmakers should take from Chirstopher Nolan is his ability to gather immensely talented actors to play everything from the biggest role of Oppenheimer to roles with a couple minutes of screentime. This is a testament to Nolan’s status as a respected filmmaker among the performers but also how he doesn’t take for granted smaller roles in the grand scheme of a story. The actors in the film allow for the script to be elevated in the sense that every character is held at the highest regard in the scope of the story and in history.

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Oppenheimer is one of the greatest cinematic achievements in recent memory. Cillian Murphy gives the greatest performance of his career and carries the entire film in the way Nolan must have only dreamed about. On a technical and cinematic level, this is Nolan’s best film to date and one that every person should seek out while it is in theaters.

‘Oppenheimer’ Rating – 4.5/5

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