Oppenheimer was released on July 21st and was met with astounding reviews from audiences and critics alike. It is the latest hit in Christopher Nolan’s repertoire – he is best known for writing and producing Interstellar and The Dark Knight trilogy. While it is nothing like his previous movies, I believe it is his best film to date. The cast is full of spectacular actors such as Cillian Murphy in the leading role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, and Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer, which was heavily based on the book titled American Prometheus written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb. It brings to light Oppenheimer’s early days as a professor to his struggle with both the mental and real-world consequences of being the man who created the atomic bomb and ending WWII for good. The whole situation is a slow burn – the movie is a little over 3 hours long, with an ending that left me speechless.
Oppenheimer is not your traditional summer smash hit. Most other summer blockbusters are action-packed thrillers that keep audiences on the edges of their seats with their gripping action sequences. Oppenheimer is not that. It has little to no action – the closest thing to it being the scene showing the explosion of the atomic bomb. It is an extremely focused movie, driven purely by the dialogue between characters. It may not have any explosive action-set pieces, but it absolutely has explosive moments.
The scene where the atomic bomb is tested starts with everyone working on the Manhattan Project trying to make sure everything is set up properly. People are talking over each other trying to get everything ready, it sounds chaotic, and it was even a little stressful to watch. As the timer for the bomb being dropped counts down you can feel the tension radiating from the scientists. Everyone starts putting on their safety glasses. Then the shot pans over to the timer – 3… 2… 1…then everything goes silent. The bomb goes off. All we hear for around a minute is the sound of Oppenheimer breathing. You can see on his face that he understands the consequences that are sure to come from his invention. Then, only once the pillar of fire from the explosion dissipates, as if to symbolize the wave of guilt coming over Oppenheimer, does the sound of the explosion finally hit. It is one of the most powerful moments in a movie that I have ever witnessed.
