Gregor Kreyca’s review published on Letterboxd:
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” - J. Robert Oppenheimer
I am not the ultimate Christopher Nolan fan boy. At least, not anymore. I love his first couple of movies. Everything up to Inception is gold in my opinion. But I truly hate The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. Dunkirk was a step into the right direction but I failed to engage with the characters. And Tenet was just a convoluted, self-important pretentious mess of a movie. But despite not connection to most of his latest films, I am always ready to give a new Nolan movie a chance in the cinema. Because he is, at the very least, an interesting director and an impeccable craftsman. Plus, I was really interested in the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
I watched the movie last night and I am glad to say that I have really enjoyed it. I think it is a good movie. Very good at times, but not a masterpiece. The movie is long and very, very dialogue heavy. But I’ll give it credit, that despite of the long runtime I was engaged and entertained for most of the time. That is mostly due to the great cast and the strong performances but also because of Nolen’s steady and skillful direction. I think the editing was also very well done and brings the movie together. The music and sound-design are Nolan typical bombastic and a bi over the top but it mostly fits the film very well. I am not so sure if all the time-jumping here was really necessary. I think that this is a story that could have used a more linear approach. One has to stay really focused to understand what is going on in each time-period.
So, while I don’t think that Oppenheimer is a flawless masterpiece I do think that it is Nolan’s best and most cohesive film since Inception in 2010. I genuinely liked the story, the performances and the direction. I am also glad I watched the film in the cinema. It is one of these movies that benefits from the theatrical experience. Watching the movie at home with all the distractions that can occur can be a bit challenging. Then again, the movie is challenging and it wants to be. It demands your full attention for three hours for you to understand what it is all about. I don’t think it is a film that I will be watching over and over again at home. But I am very happy to have experienced it at the big screen.
PS: Kudos to Nolan for shooting his first sex scene. It did the movie well and I want to see more of it. #Bring backs sex in movies, Hollywood!
PPS: And just in case anyone is wondering: No, I am not going to watch the Barbie movie. Unless someone tells me that the movie contains a hard R rated sex scenes between Ken (and I mean all the Ken's) and Barbie, I am not interested.
