DallasFrance’s review published on Letterboxd:
All the discussion about the different ways to watch Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer made me wonder if the colossal moral conundrum of the Manhattan Project might be obscured by fiery mushroom clouds. It wasn’t, thankfully, and Nolan pulled off a film about a topic that would probably scare the sh*t out of many directors.
Nolan made practically every dialogue scene tense, realistic, and riveting. I mentioned in my Spotlight review how much I love films where people work together, snap at each other, and puncture each other’s egos. There’s way more figurative explosions than literal ones in Oppenheimer, and I love it.
The supporting performances are excellent. Matt Damon and Robert Downey. Jr. stuck out the most, but there were also a lot of small but crucial roles. It reminded me of a Wes Anderson film, in that prominent actors were willing to take small roles in an exciting film. I would avoid looking at the full cast before watching the movie, cause it’s cool when an actor pops up out of nowhere.
Cillian Murphy is of course great, and the writing makes his arc believable and resonant. There are times when he loves his power and hates it at the same time. There are times when he’s stunned how his influence and power has changed in an instant. There are times when his inability to comprehend his impact on the people around him has dire consequences.
To no one’s surprise, the look and sound of the film is impressive. I liked how Nolan represented Oppenheimer’s anxiety and trauma by visually distorting images and sound during some of his closeups. The Los Alamos, New Mexico portion of the film was a great showcase for both the cinematography and sound design. The juxtaposition of natural beauty and a technological colossus was powerful.
A couple minor issues I had were that the manic editing got to be a bit much towards the end, when it was shifting back and forth almost second to second. For the most part, though, the editing worked for me. There were also a couple scenes when Nolan could have toned down the score, but it wasn’t much of a distraction. What a great film!
