Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

Picked up the 4K UHD Blu-ray today at full retail price, I never do this but by god this film deserves it if any out there do, as I said to my friend who accompanied me to the store, yes the cost is the high but the sense of unbridled joy I'll have of being back in the company of Christopher Nolan's epic will be higher still I'm sure. I was right, but I had no idea how right I was going to be.

I left the theatre in July assured already that this is Nolan's best film thus far, there's always the risk though that the grandeur of the theatre experience can add weight and merit to a picture that's ultimately revealed to not be there when watching the film at home, but for me at least this couldn't be further from the truth I'm very pleased to say, as watching this film again this evening in the format I chose and on a top flight OLED screen to boot, on every technical level this was a blissful spectacle to just marvel at visually, to take in every sumptuous detail of the rich vibrancy of Nolan's film, to look on at each texture and object on the screen and think it close enough and real enough I could reach out and touch it. It's glorious filmmaking, it's meticulously beautiful to behold.

The performances of what must surely be one of if not the largest ensemble cast assembled are just as magnificent though, we're talking about some of the most famous faces the industry has known, but each and every one of the cast in Nolan's epic disappear into the roles they're playing, it's staggering to walk away from this film for instance and think that's Iron Man, I mean in a post MCU world Robert Downey Jr. started his next career stage with Dolittle, and I have to say that I panicked and wondered if to many years in the Marvel machine had seen his abilities wain and wither for the lack of challenges he faced in his work, Nolan gives him a fresh challenge here though and he has risen to the occasion magnificently. I sincerely hope he gets his Oscar for this.

As the months have went on from the incredible hype that surrounded this film and it's release day buddie with Gerwig's Barbie, the conversation around Cillian Murphy's central turn as the eponymous Oppenheimer has begun to reverberate somewhat, there's a confused sense of doubt posing as genuine reflection being spewed into the ether, and I've seen people falling for it, being lured into the false narrative that this is anything but the best male performance of the year, because that's exactly what this is. To say Murphy's richly subtle performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer is extraordinary doesn't give him the justice his work here demands, he's a tremendous talent and that's been known for years to many of us of course, but with Oppenheimer I feel he firmly and succinctly demonstrates his awesome abilities and feel as a performer on the biggest stage he's yet had to play with, rising to the occasion Nolan has presented him with aplomb.

I just appreciated everyone here even more on this second go round, not just the two big players on the ticket, I felt more allowed by the environment in which I engaged with Oppenheimer today to really take on board what the cast were conveying, every performance felt well considered and expertly realized in the finished film. Emily Blunt is so understated in this film and it can be easy to miss the resolutely strong character she's performing as here, because it's not as obvious or flashy as something like what she does in Edge of Tomorrow, but her final scenes in the third act, being questioned in the unofficial trial and then holding her hand back from Safdie's Teller, it's compelling in a more grounded but nonetheless riveting manner. I love what everyone is doing here but I noticed even more on this viewing the performance of Alden Ehrenreich for instance, just the way his performance markedly changed as the narrative progresses and he puts the pieces together and realizes the kind of man he's assisting, the sense of satisfaction he takes in that man's ultimate failure and public fall from grace is palpable and allows we the audience to partake in such satisfaction ourselves, nay it invites us to do so.

I loved this film coming out of the theatre, I love it even more today watching it again at home. Oppenheimer is to this point so far in his career at least, the greatest achievement in Christopher Nolan's career, which is no small feat in a career full of spectacular triumphs courtesy of some of the finest filmmaking we have been privileged to best witness to.

A staggering, wondrous and utterly captivating three hours of film.

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