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Reviews
Oppenheimer (2023)
A modern day Prometheus.
Christopher Nolan's first biopic keeps very true to its inspiration, American Prometheus. The casting was superb with what is Cillian Murphy's best performance on the big screen so far, and additional stellar performances from Robert Downey Jr and the remainder of the cast.
The pace of the movie mirrors perfectly what J. R. Oppenheimer and the rest of the Manhattan Project must have felt racing to create this weapon of mass destruction first. The continuous shift through scenes, the fast dialogue, and the changing sceneries between Oppenheimer's life before and during the Manhattan Project (filmed in colour) and the security hearing (filmed in B/W) keeps the audience gripped to their seats, much like how the savants were gripped to their pads and blackboards trying to develop this weapon.
For a historically accurate biopic, I must say it is ridden with a plethora of small and large metaphors: the security hearing being filmed in B/W showing a more basic right or wrong (loyal or communist) perspective of Oppenheimer; the constant imagery of rain droplets, almost signifying the thousands of ICBMs carrying nuclear warhead, pummelling the earth; etc.
My only slight disapproval with the movie is that for such a long feature (3 hours) it leaves very little breathing room for the audience to digest the information given, so you must come prepared to dedicate 3 hours of undivided attention to this film in order to honestly appreciate and enjoy it.
J. R. Oppenheimer truly is a modern day Prometheus and Nolan has masterfully managed to not indulge either side; misunderstood scientist and hero, or a man with blood on his hands and no remorse. Personally I like one of the ending scenes when Nolan finally reveals what Oppenheimer told Einstein: they did set off a never-ending chain reaction, just not in the molecular form they expected but by the means of mass proliferation of nuclear weapons.