My Review of "Oppenheimer"

Oppenheimer has just come out. It's Christopher Nolan's hotly anticipated movie because he seems to have the Midas touch. This movie feels kind of like a culmination of a lot of his hit movies rolled up into one but in a different type of package. I can appreciate this movie but there are a few things I couldn't really get into. Mind you, I generally like all of Nolan's movies this is probably the first time I felt a little disappointed.

The movie starts off with what seems to be a little bit of a trial for Oppenheimer. As a viewer not knowing too much about the man we're asking why he's under investigation. Isn't he the guy that helped America end the war with Japan? No need to worry this gives us a perfect excuse to go deeper into his history.

Oppenheimer then explains where he came from and what had transpired to help him get to the point of helping create the atom bomb. To me this kind of weaves a bit of a messy tale. The movie kind of goes into different directions because they want to explain as much of Oppenheimer's past as they can. This includes a plethora of famous scientists and figureheads that no one is going to remember. Well that's unless you're into that stuff.

A great number of these scientists and figureheads have only really small detailed parts in the development of the bomb. They don't really have any big significance to the overall story. At times they feel like excuses to have famous actors to make cameos in the movie. In some ways it's kind of distracting the amount of famous faces that show up on screen. There's even some sex scenes and nudity that I found pretty superfluous. They were weird decisions that I was questioning throughout the movie.

Some of the details of the bomb don't even need to be explained as the main story doesn't totally focus on the bomb. After they fully explain the bomb the film quickly focuses on the real trial at hand. Basically it's renouncing Oppenheimer's security clearance working at the government. It quickly becomes some sort of court drama of who is politically backstabbing who. This isn't even a mystery since it's pretty obvious what they're trying to get at.

I appreciate that they didn't have too much handholding in this movie with explanations but they obviously point to certain people and meanings throughout the movie. At times it feels like this movie could have been split up into a TV series instead of being a full on movie.

Not being American, I noticed a lot of on the nose patriotic moments in this movie. There's a few moments where they're just trying to push the fact that Oppenheimer is an American hero but it felt a little heavy handed. At certain times I even had to let out a bit of a groan while rolling my eyes when they start yelling at how much the country means to Oppenheimer.

Visually this movie is stunning though. There are a lot of beautiful camera work that really illustrate the intensity of the story. The musical score is pretty fantastic as well. In fact if it wasn't for the visual extras and beautiful background music I think a lot of people would start to feel like they were on jury duty. It is a long movie.

Overall, it is still an enjoyable movie. The contents of the movie are interesting enough to keep you going. I don't know if I could have a second viewing of this though. To me it felt like a bit of a mess with some of the unnecessary side stories with love interests and detailed descriptions of the bomb. I think this story is better told as a biography than a biopic. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. It is an okay ride but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they're actually interested in the subjects at hand.