Barbenheimer round 2: Oppenheimer
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I’ll be straight up. I wasn’t overly keen on this movie. In fact, it’s kinda baffled me just how many people were chomping at the bit to see Oppenheimer.
I was witnessing people who never go to the cinemas, coming out of the woodwork to see this in IMAX, which is my preferred method of cinema-going. But for once I was the pleb who left it too late to buy a ticket for the biggest screen in town, finding the next few weeks pretty much sold out!
Is it Christopher Nolan? He’s been the biggest director around since The Dark Night, but let’s be real, did anyone actually like his last outing Tenet? I certainly didn’t, in fact, I would say his last masterpiece was Inception, and yeah Interstellar was pretty good too, but I feel he has been cooling since then.
Oppenheimer is a biopic, so wouldn’t this fare better with the other Oscar bait around January, and not up against Tom Cruise in the Summer Blockbuster release slot? Turns out I’m in the minority.
I did turn up to see the film, (albeit not in IMAX, Hoyts Xtreme screen) captivated by all this buzz around.
Would this three-hour biopic actually hold my attention?
Do I wish I’d seen this on an IMAX screen?
Who the hell is Oppenheimer?
I know this has something to do with the atomic bomb…
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So as most people probably already know, this movie follows J. Robert Oppenheimer as he creates the atomic bomb that America dropped on Japan to end World War II. That is the most simplified recounting of the plot, there is a lot that happens along the way and a lot of characters involved. There is a lot of talking. But for a real talkie flick, man this moves along. In true Nolan fashion, the movie jumps around timelines, but this in turn adds a sense of intrigue and mystery. Scenes seamlessly flow together, regardless of their date or time, thanks in large part to a steady, rolling score by Ludwig Goransson. It makes the film almost feel like one big montage. This really moves things along and helps push through all the science talk and politics.
I found I was constantly on the edge of my seat and at attention for the most part.
Unfortunately, the movie is three hours long, and you can only keep up this montage thing for so long. Eventually, I felt like my brain needed a rest and would zone out for 30 seconds, which at the breakneck speed that Oppenheimer travels at is detrimental, as there are a lot of ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ plot points or characters.
The absolute shining light of Oppenheimer is its sound design. It is perfect. I’ve already touched on the soundtrack, which keeps you in a constant state of awe and even dread, but it’s the little sound effects here and there, like the crackling of atoms in Oppenheimer’s mind, the sounds of people screaming, and not screaming. People are cheering, but it’s incredibly stressful. Then of course the bomb going off. Yeah, it nearly blows the speakers of your cinema, but it’s the silence that surrounds it that is truly gripping. It’s some of the best I’ve ever seen. Or heard.
It sounds great, sure. But what about them visuals? Christopher Nolan shot this on film, should I see this in IMAX?
Nah.
Don’t get me wrong, there is some stunning cinematography. Of course, the sequence with the bomb would look great on an IMAX screen. But it’s basically a movie about people talking. Hardly the best way to showcase IMAX, and that’s coming from myself, a champion of the format. Maybe I’m just salty that I didn’t get my tickets, but I never once thought ‘Oh man, how good would that have looked in IMAX?!’
Is this Christopher Nolan’s return to form? Let me be clear, he’s always been ‘in form’. I just think his older work is better. Does this live up to the likes of The Prestige, The Dark Knight or Inception? No. I think it’s as good as Dunkirk and way better than Tenet. (I could at least understand it!)
What I will say is this: for someone who had next to no interest in the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, I walked out educated. I walked out engrossed and sympathetic for this man’s life.
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Sure, you could’ve cut an hour out of this already jam-packed movie and I would have been a bit happier. I was all in until the bomb dropped, then we’ve got a whole other hour of politics and betrayals which I had a hard time following.
Oppenheimer may seem like a convoluted and overlong biopic on the surface, but Nolan has managed to produce just enough excitement, thanks to some swift editing and impeccable sound design, to truly captivate the audience.
