OPPENHEIMER

I had really high hopes for this one. I really did.

I’m a big Christopher Nolan fan, having previously loved the vast majority of his filmography, and it has an outstanding cast, led by Cillian Murphy.

It is with regret, then, that I have to say that Oppenheimer was, for me, a film with its priorities wrong.

What could have been an interesting story studying the morality of creating a weapon of mass destruction, a weapon which will irreversibly change the landscape of war, is instead, for large parts of it’s runtime, a tired courtroom drama about security clearance and senate confirmation.

And this isn’t just a side plot, it is at least half the film, and the majority of the final act. And, to be utterly frank, I did not care about any of it. Because this wasn’t what I came to the film for. Perhaps if I’d known that this was the case beforehand I might have felt differently about it, but somehow I doubt this.

I am someone who loves a good courtroom drama. But this isn’t a particularly good one. It feels like someone trying to replicate Aaron Sorkin level dialogue but missing the mark, and the stakes, despite some real life significance, feel inconsequential in the world of the film compared to what we have already seen.

Naturally, in the real world Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), who by this point was an outspoken critic of government policy, losing his security clearance did have implications on the arms race, and the future of warfare, but the film never really made this feel real to me.

And that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy any of it. I did! There were moments of brilliance scattered throughout. The problem was that the film never threatened to suck me into it. I was so unengaged with it that every time I started to enjoy it, every time I started to be drawn in, I was ultra aware of it. Thus pulling me right back out again.

The Trinity Test is a clear standout from the movie. Visually it is the one moment of the film which I could not look away from. It is a spectacular achievement in practical effects. And the weight of what this moment means for the world ways heavy. The real world ramifications of what we witnessed, making the on screen celebrations all the more horrifying.

And similarly, the celebrations we are shown after Hiroshima. The parties, the cheering, the revelry saluting the death of an incomprehensible number of innocent people.

And this is where Oppenheimer is at it’s best. As a morality story. Not a story of science, or of politics, but one of ethics. The cold detachment before the event, to the horrific realisation afterwards.

But consistently it felt like every time they started down this path Nolan would get bored of it, instead shifting back to the security hearing.

Christopher Nolan is a director who does like to play with time, but the jumps here make the film feel disjointed, never allowing the audience to settle into one place. This is, of course, deliberate, but when you’re finding one of these timelines far more interesting that the other, it is a problem.

Unfortunately, in the end, I found Oppenheimer to be a three hour long slog that gets bogged down in sub-Aaron Sorkin courtroom drama and political ideologies, at the expense of what could have been an interesting morality story.

The boon that Barbenheimer will have been to cinemas, ahead of what could be some trying months in consequence of the strikes in Hollywood, should not be downplayed. But if you only have the time, money, or inclination to see one of them - make it Barbie.