So this film was as I expected in terms of flawless cinematography, great acting performances, and a very complex and enjoyable storyline. However I did have some qualms with things I was expecting that just didn’t quite come to fruition during the film.

The whole plot was essentially based around a trial he was facing to remove his security clearance. It was a very effective was of telling the story of Oppenheimer, because the trial had him recount basically his entire career start to finish. I enjoyed how it would flash back to points in his career, flash forward to the trial, and even post trial. It was a bit hard to follow at points, but it all comes to together at the end as expected with Christopher Nolan. 

I thought that some points in the timeline that weren’t as important had too much time spent on them. The early stages moved way to quick. The point where he moved to europe to the point he was this “prophet” was like 20 minutes and I don’t think it went in depth enough. I also really wanted to see more on how they actually built the bong. The handling of the radioactive material, the stress of actually assembling the bomb was kind of looked over in a way. I wanted more scenes of tension, playing on the fragility of radioactive materials, but I didn’t quite get that. 

However, I think the goal of this film was more documentary than what I was expecting, and it definitely accomplished that. I would almost recommend reading up on the story first so you can get familiar with the names and what not. Although I expected a bit different if a film, it was still fantastic. The method of storytelling was pretty incredible, and the soundtrack when they were about to set of the test bomb was insane. The way it went quite when they set off the bomb, really captured the sheer awe of the moment. I was a bit bummed they glanced over the Japanese bombings and you really only heard it on radio, there was no footage.

I think Nolan did a great job here. Most Nolan films have the ability to fall back on their crazy black holes, or weird dream travel, but here Nolan was faced with none of that fiction he could call back to, and I think he handled it well. With that said, there are certain things I expect because if that, and this film didn’t hit a few of those expectations. I wanted more intensity beyond just old people yelling at eachother, but it wasn’t that type of film, and I grew to understand that throughout.  Were there things I wished they had fit into this 3 hour film? 100%. But Nolan did it his way and it worked. Overall a very special film with fantastic cinematography.

Edit 07/24/2023

I’m breaking my number one rule of being a film critic. I took some time to digest what I saw, the impact it made on me, and the true magnitude of the film and I have decided to change my review to a 5 star. I just couldn’t bring myself to overlook the monumental achievement in Nolan’s career he produced here. He proved he’s more than a trippy sci fi director, a damn good one at that. He created a film based around dialogue and it worked dammit. Yes I have my qualms, but this film is truly in another category in terms of storytelling and cinematography.

Nolan you sick son of a bitch, you earned this 5 star.