Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Oppenheimer" is a 2023 biographical drama directed by Christopher Nolan. Focused on the life and times of Julius Robert Oppenheimer (most commonly referred to as J. Robert Oppenheimer), the film securely reviews his life most directly and his embodied moniker of being the "Father of the Atomic Bomb". In this, it obviously carries an over encompassing look into the events of the Manhattan Project as they occurred and do an excellent job of it (at least from my point of view of someone who loves history but hasn't fully engulfed myself in the subject), but the far more pertinent is the life events of Oppenheimer himself. By this we learn the charactered dynamic of who he is and how the developments of history ran in tandem with his life on a personal level, and even more pertinent is the observation of his life intertwined with the "Bomb", before the fact in theory, during development in application, and after the fact in consequence and reflection.
In the characterization of Oppenheimer directly, I think the film pulled its strongest suit. It is abundantly clear that the horrors of war and the ethical questionings of purpose to drop the bomb or not is something that harkens loud emotional stances out of people so many years after the events that unfolded. "Oppenheimer", the film, rather presents the back story of the man first, and in this, it's not really the place of the film to be for or against the situational occurring of what did happen, just an exhibition of what happened and the conditional elements that occurred thereafter. I do understand that this is all sourced from a novel directly about Oppenheimer the person, so this application of such makes sense, but I simply do want to just remark on how successfully it was done on such a polarizing moment in history. Objectionably, as some film can contain driven statements of for or against, "Oppenheimer" knows that its goal is character study of individual first. As I say this though, it doesn't mean that an impactful journey is left out specifically showcasing a series of events that unfolded, especially in the world scenario race for arms that the film firmly displays to effect. This also extends to the mannerized aftereffects of a post WW2 that sill continues to balance the heightened world demographic as well as the directness of Oppenheimer. It's a rarity film that is both personal in many respects as well as expansive in full grandeur, often at the same time.
It goes without saying that this film is expansive, really being amongst a series of titles that should be showcased on the largest screens available for one to watch. It's shared event with "Barbie" (2023) speaks for itself, as while those films are completely opposite, it harkened a strangely wonderful holiday of sorts for film goers to embrace the institution of the movie going experience again, key word prevalently being "experience" in this equation. I have previously spoken to the measure of the event in my review of "Barbie" but to briefly state, the theater going experience has had some considerable ebbs and flows in delivery, not only from the dire situation of covid, but frankly within stagnation of product as well. Both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" being the ying and yang of films in one special weekend that will probably be remember in film history for a bit of time with its uniqueness. Subjectively, the films are outstanding for their own merits, so it's hard to really say if one is better than the other, and even if a star rating leads me to somewhat say it in a Letterboxd value of things. Really, I received equal enjoyment out of both films on their individual merits. The extra notch to "Oppenheimer" just might be how expansively large it is in delivery and design. Nolan deserves every bit of credit, even to point where he recreated the bomb test to a certain degree in the realm of practical effects versus an industry forcing the card of CGI at a constant. The film is simply a force to be reckoned with, and I was enthralled throughout.
