Lewis666 🦖☢️’s review published on Letterboxd:
☢️⌛The Countdown To Nolan's Atomic Bomb: 00:00:00⌛☢️
🩷☢️Barbenheimer: Part One!☢️🩷
Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds...
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer surrounds the life of talented physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer during the years of World War II, where he was recruited by Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. to work on a top secret government project among some of America's brilliant scientists that could single handedly, end the war with Germany as they knew it. Creating the world's first ever Atomic Bomb. Capable of devastating consequences, all leading to August 6th, 1945, where the first ever nuclear explosion was used as an act of war on Hiroshima, Japan, to bring it closer to its end. Inevitably changing the course of history forever.
We imagine a future, and our imaginings horrify us. They won't fear it until they understand it. And they won't understand it until they've used it.
I could honestly continue to joke how I've been subtly treating this like a secret prequel to Godzilla to lighten the mood but I think that would take away this film's meaning to a point. In fact, to be blunt, I feel very strongly about the events this entire film is documented over. Learning about the history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings through Godzilla's history, influence and harrowing themes is literally everything I am as a person today. I am who I am because of what I learned from Godzilla and obviously, unsurprisingly, I absolutely detest and loathe war with every fibre of my being. Just the simple thought that thousands of innocent people died at the hands of the men portrayed within this very film devastates me and sends me into a rageful hate. Thousands of innocent people, dead, burned to ashes or those lucky enough to avoid the blast, suffered devastating effects of radiation sickness. While those corporate monsters sit in a comfortable room smiling... Even pointing the finger at Robert Oppenheimer expressing his guilt with blood on his hands. I was enraged! Obviously Christopher Nolan understands the assignment and realises this is probably what I'm supposed to be feeling, and I'm conscious of that. But the fact I've always been so close to this history in my own way, as it represents everything that I am fucking not, creeped into me a little deeper and more personal. No human being should EVER have this kind of power! No human being should EVER "play God" with destructive giant toys. It's inhuman, immoral and soulless.
Are you saying that there's a chance that when we push that button... We destroy the world?
The chances are near zero.
...Near zero?
What do you want from theory alone?
Zero would be nice!
Diving into more of the technical film side of things, this historical drama by Nolan is completely and utterly riveting! Without a single second left for feeling the three hour runtime nor its pacing and just when you think it might be dipping a bit, suddenly there's another group meeting with every important figure involved with this horror show and it's the most tense few minutes you've ever experienced! Once the (for a lack of a better term) "success" (🙄🤮) of the Atomic Bomb as already happened, suddenly a game of cut throats and backstabbing happens and holy shit if you're THAT quick to turn on each other after the atrocity you've just committed then you might as well have bombed yourselves. It's makes for wildly dramatic and eye opening moments that just grips your attention the whole way.
Is anyone ever going to tell the truth about what's happening here?
The cast is absolutely STACKED and EVERYONE is INCREDIBLE! ❤️🔥 The lead Cillian Murphy arguably leaves the biggest impression but considering his lack of presence from the trailer I was surprised to see how involved Robert Downey Jr. was I really adored his performance here, especially since I haven't really had the chance to catch him in much since Endgame. Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh (🥵) and so on are all outstanding and like many on here have said, I think Oppenheimer might be stealing a lot of Oscars next year.
Would the Japanese have surrendered if they knew what was coming?
The sound design is fucking mesmerising and the score equally as explosive. And that oh so breathtaking cinematography Christopher Nolan is so known for just takes your breath away time after time. I'm sure Oppenheimer isn't going to be everybody's favourite movie ever made, let alone for the year, I'm already seeing quite a few people in my personal social media saying it was boring. But for me, Oppenheimer is just completely mesmerising in the most haunting and infuriating way as we witness a man and the people around him create the most frightening, monstrous invention this entire planet has ever known. That scene where Robert Oppenheimer has an eerie vision of a woman with peeling skin and walking over a dead body burned to a crisp will forever live rent free in my mind... 😞 Those poor, poor Japanese lives lost... 💔🇯🇵 Oppenheimer is a masterpiece of a film that demands to be seen on the biggest screen you can find! ❤️🔥
Our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen.
Until somebody build a bigger bomb.
