Oppenheimer
David Chen

Review by David Chen Pro

Oppenheimer 2023

★★★★

Watched 18 Jul 2023

In many ways, it’s difficult to talk about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

The subject matter is weighty. The film chronicles the creation of the atomic bomb — an initiative led by its titular character — and its political aftermath. It was an invention that not only brought untold misery to tens of thousands of people spanning multiple generations, but also created geopolitical dynamics that still hang over humanity like a Damoclean sword.

Moreover, it’s difficult because as a cinematic experience, Oppenheimer bludgeons you into submission. Its sound design is assaultive and dreamlike, taking you not only into its protagonist’s world but imagining how he physically experienced it. Its 3-hour runtime is punishing and it is paced in a way that shocked me. I went to see this movie at a packed advanced screening this week and the typically-talkative guests I brought with me had a difficult time articulating any thoughts about the movie afterwards. I was on the same page. Oppenheimer is a movie that spurs you into contemplative thought but it also exhausts you.

Christopher Nolan is the only director in Hollywood that can make a movie with a budget of $180 million which is mostly people in rooms talking and arguing. I salute him for it; we need more thoughtful films in theaters that force us to consider topics like science and how humanity has wielded it. And when Oppenheimer is about the development of the atomic bomb, it is incredible.

Read the rest of my review at Decoding Everything 
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