Part two of one of the biggest weekends in cinema history, and one of my most anticipated films of the year. Anytime Christopher Nolan releases a film it goes straight towards the top of films I get very excited to see. Nolan has been given the ability by the studios he has worked for to make whatever film he looks for and consistently churns out some of the best films. A film that has perhaps had one of the most unique marketing campaigns, with the teaser including a real time countdown to the film’s release, as well as being linked with a film that is almost it’s complete opposite in Barbie.
Oppenheimer is based on the life of Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) and his story which led to the creation of the atomic bomb, which would play a notorious role towards the end of World War 2, and his life after the weapon was made.
Christopher Nolan is one of the best filmmakers alive, and perhaps the very best working director at the moment, in terms of consistently making some of the best and most impactful films around. His genius work from Memento to The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet all fantastic films and have given him the ability to pull in the best talent behind and in front of a camera. His films stick with you due to fantastic screenplays, poignant moments and fantastic direction. Oppenheimer is no different. The only thing I did struggle with is the political side of the film, I’m not a big politics person so a lot of it is hard for me to process and I did lose track of where we and why some situations happened, and what they meant.
The cast deliver fantastic performances and on the whole certainly deserve to be in the discussion when award season roles around towards the end of next year and beginning of next. This is the first time Cillian Murphy has led a Nolan film despite appearing in multiple of his previous works, and he is fantastic, it’s hard not to be a fan of Murphy who has been consistently delivering strong performances since 28 Days Later, despite being most notably known for his role as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders.
Perhaps the person who has the biggest chance of taking an acting award home however is Robert Downey Jr who delivers one of his career best performances as Lewis Strauss. He gets a decent amount of screentime, particularly in the final act of the film. He really manages to stand out in what is one of the strongest casts that has ever been assembled. Other strong standout performances come from Matt Damon and Josh Hartnett (who it is great to see having a career resurgence).
The technical areas and behind the scenes work the crew put it is extremely likely to get noticed when it comes to award season, from the set design to costume, visual effects. The ones that will have a better chance of taking home that award will be Ludwig Goransson for his powerful and impactful score (Goransson my favourite composer working at the moment) and, director of photography, Hoyte Van Hoytema who was previously nominated for his work with Nolan on Dunkirk.
Overall, Oppenheimer delivers the impact you want it to and will be long remembered not just for it’s ties with Barbie but because of the strong performances by an incredible cast as well as the fantastic effort which Nolan goes through to deliver powerful stories on the biggest screen, and getting people back in to cinemas. The film will certainly be in discussion for awards and will be many peoples favourites of the year, and will no doubt just get better and better with a rewatch.
What did you think of Oppenheimer? Did you do the Barbenheimer double bill?
Let me know in the comments down below and be sure to like and follow on social media to keep up to date with my latest reviews.
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