For over a year, I have heard the rapid thumping of the Oppenheimer trailer. To come to the day where I can see the origin of that thumping and for it to be one of the best scenes of the year is a pretty good place to be in. This movie was locked into the June 21st 2023 release since about 200 AD when I saw that first trailer. I am happy to report it is almost just as I expected and without making light of the situation, blew me away. I haven’t been this interested in two men talking in small rooms since I had a brief interaction with WIll Poulter and saw the light.
While these three hours of conversations thrilled me, I could feel the confusion of the 16 year old boys behind me as they watched the time tick by and the Michael Bay movie they expected, slip into a distant hope. The focus this movie had on seeing it on the biggest screen possible is not for the reasons you should have seen Avengers or Top Gun on the biggest screen, its for the massive scale closeness where every pore of Cillian Murphy’s face is telling a story. I do think that the push for grand screens did setup these 16 year old boy expectations and will lead to a lot of dismissive reviews from the comfy trouser wearing youths.
This quick story explanation is for them. J Robert Oppenheimer helped contribute to the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. He, along with a team of thinkers and doers, made a world ending device which looms over our society’s extinction like shutting down of Google Maps. We follow him through his hearing of security clearance renewal as he retells the events leading to present day, where Lewis Strauss is at a black and white hearing of his own. For most of the film we cut back and forth from these moments, mimicking the interruptions from the prosecutor or a senator. The film’s editing style allows for these time jumps and doesn’t take away from the flow of the story for me.
I do feel a lot of the film focuses on the aftermath and treatment of Oppenheimer as he is questioned for his ties to the communist party. I would have liked to delve into the guilt he felt having created this bomb more. The moments in which the film takes the time to let us connect with Oppenheimer are where I felt it was at its strongest emotionally. I don’t believe this is a particularly emotional film, it stands mostly on the merits of its technical achievements, which are admittedly worth the time and admission price for me.
The camera work in this film is so loud and action packed while being so grounded and realistic. There are moments in which the background distorts to show Oppenheimer’s anxiety but other than that, the film displays the conversations in a relatively simple manner. With lighting and angle choice, it elevates these conversations to levels of tension and intrigue only really seen in heart racing actions sequences.
There are portions of this film that are presented in black and white. I think its mostly an arbitrary style choice to differentiate perspectives but its done so well that they could have randomised which shots were to be in black and white and I would have eaten it up.
The sound in the film is almost the opposite of the camera as it opts for big and loud with precise and effective moments of quiet. They repeat sound in the film to build tension, like the ascending thumps that play in moments of anxiety. They absolutely work, every time they are implemented. The use of silence is sprinkled throughout, in big story moments or emotionally intense scenes.
One in particular is in the origin of the thumping, as Oppenheimer enters a room to a foot stamp of appreciation after the Hiroshima bombs have been dropped. He walks in, past the disembodied feet to a roaring crowd, cheering his name while he makes his way to the podium. As he begins his speech, a woman’s cheer is morphed into a scream of terror and the sound behind the scene cuts as we begin to connect the dots to a parallel between the celebration of these Americans and the death and devastation being felt in Japan at the same time. This scene is so effective to me as I was able to feel his guilt and realisation of his actions. This scene along with the first test of the bomb are some of the most tense and powerful sequences I have watched in a while.
I couldn’t go without mentioning the music, as it creates so much atmosphere throughout the film. It is perfectly married to the events happening on screen and aids in portraying the messaging. Whatever I was feeling, it was only heightened and sustained by the score being front and centre. The range of styles and bold experiments on the soundtrack made it flow with the film and never feel repetitive or derivative of its earlier songs.
To conclude, this technical marvel is peak event cinema, tied with the star power justified with amazing performances. While the women took a back seat in screentime, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh stuck the landing with the lines they had and will hopefully not be forgotten in the lead up to awards season. Its nice to expect a film to be what it is but better, I expected to watch the film, be a little confused, watch an explanation video and then stew on my thoughts. However, I have a much clearer picture of how I feel about this and also enjoyed it more than I thought. Additionally the film about the bomb is one of the only ones not to do so, at the box office this summer.
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