Padraig’s review published on Letterboxd:
I watched this as Cristopher Nolan envisioned; in 70mm, instantly after my Barbie screening, after having to sprint 10 minutes across town to make it to the cinema between viewings, having ended up arriving 10 minutes into the movie and exhausted.
My main issue with the film is that opening 45 minutes or so, up until they settle into Los Alamos. I found the random cuts to the tribunal jarring and lacking context, but again this may well be my fault for arriving late, and I intend to see this movie again and know for sure who is to blame.
The time spent at Los Alamos to me was basically perfect, all culminating in the Trinity Test, which despite me knowing exactly what would happen, left my heart beating faster and my body more tensed up than any horror movie ever has.
The final section, focusing on the battle against Strauss and the moral dilemmas at play definitely had its strong points, but at times I did feel lost trying to keep up with all the different names and who was for/against ‘Oppy’. The eventual humiliation Strauss receives is wonderfully satisfying to watch, but I did feel completely blindsided when Rami Malek took to the stand and just dropped fact after fact that I did not fully understand how he had, or why nobody questioned it. But hey maybe the rewatch will give me those answers too.
A true display of sheer quality by everyone involved, with some of the more tense scenes put to screen in recent years, and a particular shout-out to Ludwig Göransson for popping the fuck off with that score. I could easily see this getting a 5 star on rewatch, but for now Oppy will need to accept that he may have helped win the war, but he’s lost this battle to Barbie.
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