Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)

Bobby_Bolivia

I hated this.

I felt every second of it's bloated runtime. Everyone saying lines so fast that they may as well have been holding their scripts, while Nolan and Goransson try to manipulate you to feel a certain way through the score at different points of the incessant, boring talking, because all the talking just completely blends together. Nothing that was happening visually prompted the emotions that the score was almost begging you to feel. There are virtually no characters, everybody is just here to get their lines out as quickly as possible so the next person can read their lines. And so on. The majority of these talking scenes have far too many cuts, not one shot was allowed to linger properly, just jumping back and forth and over to this person and that person and now back to somebody else in the space of 15 seconds. It made Bohemian Rhapsody look like Birdman. Absolutely atrocious.

Different actors pop in and out and it's difficult to remember who anybody is - random names and surnames thrown about like confetti but none of those characters are ever developed so it's impossible to even remember who anybody is or why you should care about them. All I remembered were the actors, because we moved from character to character so fast I could never remember who anybody was - they were never explored or explained, I never knew anything about them. Everybody feels completely interchangable. Just, here's Rami Malek, oh look - Casey Affleck. Josh Peck is in this? Here's Kenneth Branagh. The guy who played new Han Solo. It was like a who's who of actors coming in to say their lines and leaving again.

Jean is supposedly a huge part of his life but this is never, ever illustrated well by Nolan, she has no character apart from being a Communist who hates flowers - just a few shots of her tits and time to move on.

There's one scene where Einstein pops out from behind a car at night and it's like he is a Batman villain. It took a lot to not lose myself laughing.

The narrative decision to pivot from one of the biggest events in human history - the dropping of the bomb, into a full hour of whether he keeps his bloody security clearance of not was astounding to me and fell so flat. It was a narrative decision which did not work for me. Moving from world altering stakes to what is essentially a d*ck-measuring contest between two people (as RDJ basically twirls his mustache revealing his dastardly plan) just lost the tiny sliver of narrative momentem they had. Yes I know that it was important as it was deciding the future of nuclear development and research going forward but the movie never made me feel that importance.

bogmanfan

Finally saw this on Friday. I'm not part of the Nolan cult - it's all been downhill since Memento in my opinion. But I did enjoy Inception.

I thought it was decent, but too long. Felt there was plenty of fat that could have been trimmed.

Also, sound was just too loud. I know this is Nolan's thing, but it just makes no sense to me. I don't mind the explosions being loud - but why was the whole thing so loud? It just got annoying after a bit.

Overall 6/10 from me

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012865#Comment_121012865

I must say, though I disagree with your overall sentiment, that's a wonderfully written take down 🤣

The Helpful Engineer

I watched it last night, I enjoyed it but found it a little disappointing considering all the rave reviews. The sound was extremely poor and for me the final investigation went on too long and was confusingly edited. However the acting was great. I remember watching an old film about making the bomb and Oppenheimer which in my opinion covered the Los Alamos period better. A bit like the Titanic film verses A Night To Remember.

Having said all that, I am glad that Nolan is making his films to give us alternatives to the Marvel/DC rubbish. Also his films faults makes for good discussions with friends on what improvements we would all make.

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012865#Comment_121012865

I agree with everything you say. But I still enjoyed the movie. Maybe it's because I hadn't seen a movie for adults in the cinema for a long time, and I saw it in a cinema with zero distractions. Also, I do think Cillian Murphy keeps the whole show on the road the entire time. I think it'd fall apart without him.

It has done really well, so maybe we will see a switch away from CGI stuff and Disney+ stuff towards better mainstream cinema again.

walkonby

This is the second film adaptation of recent years by a major director where the original book—in this case, American Prometheus—had a much cooler title than the movie (the other being The Irishman\I Heard You Paint Houses).

Enjoyed it a lot. Running time zips by. Though I did find the dialogue mix a bit muddy at times (unless this was a problem with the sound in the screen, IFI1)

Spoiler Warning

I could also have done without the cyanide-laced apple sequence at the start. It was based on a real incident, but it’s very unlikely cyanide, or anything remotely as dangerous, was involved.

RickBlaine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012865#Comment_121012865

I disagree with most of this. Aside from a few quibbles, I enjoyed the film immensely. But I totally agree with you about Einstein suddenly appearing at night. There is something about that moment that is very oddly staged which totally took me out of the film for a second. He may as well have beamed down from the Enterprise.

walkonby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121015654#Comment_121015654

They both lived and worked at the same place, so it’s not really any more surprising than arriving home from work and seeing one of your neighbours. But the way it was staged was a bit odd.

StringerBell

Finally got around to seeing it, masterpiece.

Best movie I have seen in a log time, Murphy is superb and it's a real return to form for Nolan imo, not that he dropped off massively with Tenet but he definitely dipped.

Travel is good

Just saw this film, I thought it was amazing. Cillian Murphy was so mesmerising. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck were great too, great ensemble cast. I was fine with the dialogue at the end. I bought the book straight afterwards, I have to find out about all the cast of characters. I really hope Cillian Murphy and the film receives an Oscar. Like other posters, I am delighted to see an adult film again.

FortuneChip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121022700#Comment_121022700

You might be mistaking Ben Affleck for Gary Oldman, or Emily Blunt.

appledrop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121025891#Comment_121025891

It was his brother Casey Affleck that was in the film.

Finally seen this on cheap cinema day in a sold out IMAX. I wasn't expecting much for some reason but was pleasantly surprised. One of his better ones. Maybe too much to cram into 3hrs. Performances all great. Thought Casey's little cameo was brilliant

JP Liz V1

It is officially the highest grossing biopic of all time

micks_address

Is there a digital release date for this yet?

Chelon

Enjoyed it but not a masterpiece for me. Probably the loudest film I've ever watched and it was incessant.

Also the only other film I can remember having constant background music in every and I do mean every scene is Color of Money. I'm just struggling to think of what he was trying to achieve here...it was hard to settle as you weren't sure when the next loud bang would happen...

gipi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153811#Comment_121153811

I agree regarding the constant music - I saw the film in one of the "hypersense" cinemas (vibrations in the seats and extra loud sound....though not the dialogue, funnily enough!), and the music irritated me by the end of the film.

Looking forward to seeing it again on DVD or the like, with subtitles this time!

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153811#Comment_121153811

it was hard to settle as you weren't sure when the next loud bang would happen..

i think that's pretty much one of the significant reasons for the way Nolan uses sounds in his movies.

pixelburp

Christopher Nolan has got to the point where one must make peace with the fact the sound design will be ... a choice. Whether or not it's a good choice? Therein lies the "discourse" lol.

Chelon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153959#Comment_121153959

With eg Dunkirk it worked as the scenes depicted did have all that noise going on, not the "added" stuff here - maybe he's trying to invoke a sense of unease which I can understand but I found it over the top. Also thought they could have omitted 20 mins or so of the courtroom stuff at the end.

flasher0030

I watched it hooked up to TV, with subtitles on.

Overall I enjoyed it. But I saw some good points above about all of the forgettable characters scattered throughout the movie, and when their names popped up again an hour later in the film, I struggled to remember many of them. Ended up googling at that point to see which face went with each character. I will ashamedly admit that there were times where I was struggling exactly what was going on i.e. who were on his side, and who were not - I knew the main thrust of it alright.

I'm certainly glad I had the subtitles. The background music was really loud in some parts. But being able to glace down at the subtitles made the music a positive experience.

I thought it really dragged for a lot of it around the middle. Could easily have been 45 mins shorter without losing anything significant in the story.

Overall, I am glad I watched it, and would recommend anyone to do same. I don't think I would watch it again though.

Acosta

Thought it was fairly dull

Giruilla

Would have been a good movie if it wasn't so painfully rushed, grossly edited, and had interesting dialogue.

Relikk

Watched it again over the weekend, first time since I saw it in the cinema. I liked it then, but it was way better the second time around when I could hear the dialogue more clearly. Superb film.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121012865#Comment_121012865

+1.

Found this to be tedious in the extreme. Ended up watching an hour a night over 3 nights. It simply didn't hold my attention. Rambling and incoherent would be some of my kinder terms for it. 90 mnutes would have been long enough for it. It's way down the list IMO if you want to compare Nolan's work to date.

monkeyactive

I enjoyed Oppenheimer but I can confidently say that I will never watch it again and that is from someone who finds Christopher Nolan's films very re watchable.

I liked when it went at explaining theoretical physics to the layman and had the psychedelic visuals going. I wished they had hung the movie a bit more on that and not went for such an all out dialogue heavy character study. Thought there was so much scope for more spectacle in this instead of a film mainly involving men talking rapidly at each other in rooms for 3 hours.

El Duda

Oppenheimer – 7/10

Saw this on opening day at a sold-out BFI iMax with James Acaster in attendance. Proper bombs of dread. 

Lots of anticipation for this one and I’ve long been curious as to how it justifies the 3-hour run time. I assumed that running that length would mean that we have multiple set pieces, but it really does just focus on the Trinity test. Hiroshima and Nagasaki happen off screen, and we instead focus on the Manhattan project and ‘court room drama’ that unfolds in the aftermath of the Trinity test.  

This is Christopher Nolan’s JFK, with a healthy dose of The Social Network and a sprinkling of abstract imagery. I would have liked a bit more surrealism, but I guess Nolan would be well aware of what David Lynch achieved in Twin Peaks: The Return episode 8 so he keeps it restrained. It’s more history lesson than blockbuster and I’m sure there are many people out there that expected a completely different film. The marketing made it look like it could be an action-packed race against time but it’s much more academic and dialogue heavy. 

If you’re interested in exploring Robert Oppenheimer’s story in forensic detail, then this is the film for you. Just don’t go expecting an all-encompassing retelling of the ending of the second world war.  

It’s a very well-made film, but it’s intense and a lot to take in. You must be in the right mood. I won’t be in a rush to see it again and I certainly wouldn’t be raving about it and recommending it to everyone. A slog, but an interesting and worthwhile slog. 

It will SWEEP at the Oscars.

yerwanthere123

Watched this last night after looking forward to it for a long time. Honestly, I can't rate it that highly. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it just didn't strike a chord with me at all. I've no problem settling down to watch a long movie, but this felt like a very long movie.

Can't fault any of the performances, visuals, score etc., but I just didn't enjoy it. It might be one I come back to and appreciate in time, but for now it left me cold and I don't really quite know why.

awec

Saw this tonight. It definitely should have been shorter. All sections of the movie suffered from bloat. The pacing was a bit weird in parts.

The sound design, I don't know what it is about Christopher Nolan but I have a proper Sonos sound setup in my living room and all of his recent movies have had awful sound design, going from insanely loud moments where things explode, to then very quiet dialog. It's like he wants you to watch movies with the remote in your hand constantly turning it up and down from scene to scene. Interstellar was the exact same.

I think if you had no understanding of the Manhattan Project, didn't have any background or recognise any of the characters it might be a bit of a struggle due to how the story is laid out. I think you need to have at least a little bit of background to get the most from this, particularly in the middle section when they start throwing around all the terms like fusion / fission / heavy water / h-bomb etc. If you don't get some of these terms then I think a large part of the plot won't fully sink in, and they don't really explain much in the movie itself.

If you watch this hoping it's a movie on the Manhattan Project you will also be disappointed IMO, it is definitely a biopic on the man himself instead.

I enjoyed it for what it was, I definitely wasn't bored, but I probably wouldn't watch it again either.

Ardent

A measure of a truly great film is its re-watchability. For me, this is a movie I have no intention of ever watching again. I found it bloated and boring in the extreme.

Nolan's movies (Memento aside) are oddly the most over-rated movies of all time.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121552647#Comment_121552647

Very good assessment. I knew nothing about the story of the atomic bomb. Never heard of Oppenheimer until this movie. And I was having to to pause it a few times to look up wiki to see what certain elements in the movie actually meant. And at times to put a face to a character that was mentioned. There are a lot of different character names thrown around.

But overall, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie. Just added another half hour to an already lengthy film.

awec

Also forgot to say I think the character of Jean was handled fairly poorly. She was only slightly less hollow than Mrs Oppenheimer, a character I think could have been left out completely.

Spoiler Warning

The scene of the two of them sitting nude on the sofas was bizarre, like it was just an excuse to get a pair of tits on TV for a few mins. Not that I am in any way bothered about nudity but it just felt so obviously blunt, you can get across the point that he had an affair in a better way I think.

expectationlost

this is very funny

Christopher Nolan reveals Peloton instructor slammed movie Tenet during his class

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/christopher-nolan-peloton-slams-tenet-movie-b1130600.html

they found the video

https://twitter.com/JacobOller/status/1743020825182126310

MisterAnarchy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121552647#Comment_121552647

I watched the film at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had to put the sound through my 5.1 sound system to hear it properly, the downmixing of the 5.1 track on the tv was horrible, echoey and a mess.

It was the same with Tenet.

The sound thru the amp was fine though, I had to turn the subwoofer down a few decibels as it was causing stuff to rattle in the room but once that was done the audio was clear and the sound wasnt booming.

Nolan definitely needs to sort out his sound mix though, it should be clear on a normal tv, it shouldnt require the need for the viewer to tinker with settings.

fatbhoy

Watched it over the Christmas: a really good copy, 40GB, 5.1 sound, 55" TV. Just after splashing out 2K on speakers and an AV receiver, so this was the acid test. Well all I can say was that I was blown away. Great film, I scored it 10/10, and the big screen and big sound was very immersive. Money well spent: you can't bring it with you, and all that.

Big Gerry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584373#Comment_121584373

I watched the the blu ray of Oppenheimer with headphones on and it sounded fine to me.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121584373#Comment_121584373

I think it's because he shoots in IMAX and doesn't do post production sound recording.

That's just a guess.

bnt

I finally got to see this myself yesterday. Because I've read the Richard Rhodes book and various other technical bits over the years, I could have used a lot more science than ended up in the movie e.g. the differences between the two bombs are fascinating, down to the fissile materials and how they were obtained. They only showed their basic principles, no more than that.

The post-war scenes were a little confusing, until it was made clear that they were about two different hearings, five years apart. The significance of Strauss' confirmation failure could have been emphasised a bit more: the Senate failing to ratify a Cabinet appointee has only happened eight times in the history of the USA, and didn't happen again for thirty years. Strauss' treatment of Oppenheimer came back to bite him, and it essentially ended his political career. (I didn't recognise Alden Ehrenreich as Strauss' snarky aide, the one who had zero sympathy at the news.)

There could have been more human interest stories from Los Alamos e.g. Richard Feynman was portrayed as a happy bongo-playing wiseass, the one who decided to watch the explosion from behind only a car windshield. Before that, though, Oppenheimer had helped him find a sanatorium for his wife, who was seriously ill with TB, and she died a month before the Trinity test. There was time for little side stories, like that, I thought.

PS: did anyone else notice Oppenheimer's hat in the final scene with Einstein? It's a sunny day, but it's raining on him: a callback to the raindrops in the very first shot.

Mister Vain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121758169#Comment_121758169

The sunshower phenomenon.

JP Liz V1

7 BAFTA wins for Oppenheimer

MisterAnarchy

Nice Orchestral rendition of some of the songs from the film I came across on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRqF-tKuKEs

Man Vs ManUre

I watched this recently. CM will be a worthy winner of Best Actor at the Oscars, and it is definitely a much better film than Barbie!! But I don’t think I would sit through a 2nd viewing of it, as it’s a very long political film similar to JFK type of film. Killers of the Flower Moon is also very long but I would watch that again, it’s a better film.

Man Vs ManUre

Oh yeah, and I dunno why RDJ is gonna win Best Supporting. Ruffalo in Poor Things was way better, also De Niro was better.

JP Liz V1

Delighted for Cillian

JP Liz V1

7 Oscar Wins

MfMan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118677847#Comment_118677847

As I smugly predicted a good few moons ago.

Snake Plisken

Delighted for Nolan and his team. Great win for Cillian and RDJ. I wonder will they rerelease it in cinemas for a week or two with all the Oscar wins.

Also I'd say Warner Bros are sickened they pissed off Nolan and lost this release to Universal

swiwi_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058209547/oppenheimer-christopher-nolan

"After a string of big blockbusters, this would seem to be (relatively) smaller scale film for Nolan."

Always interesting to read opening posts with the benefit of hindsight...

Have yet to see this film? Is it worth it - I generally tend to be fairly uniformly disappointed by Oscar-winning films. What I mean, is it amazing film that fully deserves its Oscars hoard?

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121880666#Comment_121880666

It's a good enough film that it deserves to be watched. Oscars are subjective, so whether or not it fully deserves its awards will depend on who you ask, and what their personal tastes lean towards.

expectationlost

great q&a with nolan, murphy and rdj

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA8CFlMnW9c

think nolan has a crush on rdj