Let’s begin by saying how lucky we are here in San Francisco to have a proper IMAX theatre. One of about 40 in the whole world capable of showing Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in the way it was shot: IMAX 70mm film. The image quality is beyond anything digital is currently capable of, and the vastness of the multi-story screen utterly fills the peripheral vision. It is indeed motion picture film at its qualitative zenith. Kudos to Nolan for being just about the only director to fully use this fantastic medium.
This is why whenever there’s a new Nolan release, I make it a point to go see it in IMAX. Sadly, didn’t do that for Tenet, because of the bloody pandemic.
You’re going to be disappointed if you’re coming into Oppenheimer looking for a Michael Bay-style romp about the atomic bomb explosion. This movie is a pure character piece on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer vis a vis the invention of nuclear weaponry. And as a character piece, Oppenheimer is superbly done. The audience is with the titular character practically the entire time. The story structure can be a bit Nolan-esque (read: it jumps around), but the whole story gathers itself nicely once the picture is complete.
Of course, a character piece can only be done with brilliant acting. There’s superb acting talent in Oppenheimer, and superb acting all around. The highlights are, expectedly, Cillian Murphy (J. Robert Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr (Lewis Strauss). and Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer).
I really like this movie, and will definitely see it again - but with captions. There's so much detail in the dialogue, but somehow Nolan refuses to mix the speaking parts louder. It's been an ongoing thing since The Dark Knight Rises. Other than that, the sound design/score is magnificent. Particularly during the trinity test sequence: as the atomic bomb explodes, all manner of sound was cut. After a bit, the loudest bang you can think of pops shockingly in. This perfectly mimicks how physics work: you see before you hear, because light travels faster than sound.
For a film that’s three hours long, there needs to be an intermission in the middle for people to take a breather and a bathroom break. For Oppenheimer, the perfect place to break is exactly where you think it is.
Get your popcorn here!