Sheldon Farough’s review published on Letterboxd:
Starting the new year off strong with a movie I knew I'd love but it took me a while to get around to. I'm a big Nolan fan boy and only knew a few details of Oppenheimer's story so I had high hopes for this. And I wasn't disappointed.
Just want to get a few basics out of the way first. Cinematography was fantastic. I think this movie looks beautiful and is edited well and visually I was on board with this 100%. I think the score is fantastic. Constantly loving the music in this. I think the cast is great. So many actors who I recognize and love popping up throughout this. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr are the two who most stood out for me but I also think Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh were great too.
I think the story itself is pretty interesting and I think Nolan elevates it in the sort of disjointed chronological jumping that he does. I really thought that after they did the bomb, the movie would just kind of end there with Oppenheimer being like "what have I done?" but to follow it through and show the sort of rivalry or whatever with Strauss is really interesting.
I have a couple of minor complaints. First off... I wish Strauss was more important throughout the whole film. He shows up early but it's not super clear why he's important at first. Then he disappears for a really long time. Then at the end he becomes important again. More scenes like that one dinner where him and Oppenheimer were arguing would have gone a long way in my opinion. Hm... and also while I like the disjointed chronological nature, I really wish that there was more clarity on when certain events were taking place. The whole meeting with Strauss and Einstein having taken place after the bombs were dropped was not clear to me at all until the end of the movie. Then there were the two sort of trials going on throughout the movie and it wasn't until later in the movie when it finally clicked exactly what was happening when and how they played together.
Buuuuuut I still like it so much. I think this is a great film. Really curious what Nolan will do next.
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