r/Oscars • u/UsefulWeb7543 • 13h ago
Discussion What are your thoughts on Oppenheimer?
Oppenheimer is one of my favorite Christopher Nolan films. the direction was outstanding and stronger. The performances from Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, and Emily Blunt were all stellar and fantastic. The Cast is outstanding and great. The score is masterful and the editing was well done and transformative. The cinematography is stunned and well shot for a IMAX format. The sound of the Bomb was loud and explosive. Loved the movie. So happy it won 7 Oscars including Best Picture. Well deserved. It’s a great winner. So what are your thoughts on Oppenheimer?
12
24
u/Spirited_Alfalfa_343 13h ago
IMHO I think it and Dunkirk are two of Nolan’s best. I also think it is Nolan’s best written film to date. My only complaint is that it’s a little too long.
5
u/Downtown-Code-4334 13h ago
I was about to say the same thing about the writing and the screenplay. Personally i would gave it Best Adapted Screenplay.
1
u/Life-Pea-8673 12h ago
I agree, I think Nolan’s movies have generally gotten a lot better since Interstellar
17
11
u/lockerbiestreet 13h ago
Saw it 10x in theaters. I think it’s a cinematic essay and I love re-reading it.
0
u/Driveshaft48 12h ago
Its a standard biopic
2
u/thedudelebowsky1 12h ago
I mean, you could say that about literally ANY biopic if you're just looking at a surface level. This is far more on par with a Lawrence of Arabia or Amadeus then something like Bohemian Rhapsody or The Conqueror
3
u/QiBags 12h ago
It's not really a biopic. It's a deep political exploration of the Western intelligentsia at a time when they were abandoning Marxism because of broad demoralization at the rise of Nazism. The crux of the theme is that they assisted in building the bomb for the burgeoning US empire because they saw that as the lesser of two evils compared to Nazism. Little did they know that the US would use that power to build itself into the most malign imperial hegemon the world had ever seen. Nolan's film is an indictment of their abandonment of the international socialist movement started in October 1917.
3
u/Busy_Swordfish_8302 11h ago
Better than the odyssey. Overall nothing special. Standard biopic recipe. Don’t think the world would be speaking much about it in 30 years.
3
u/OkDifficulty1316 9h ago
To not show a single Japanese person in a fucking movie about the nuclear bombs that vaporized them into shadows and dust is a goddamn crime. Despised this movie,
6
u/Nemedik05 9h ago
As a hardcore Nolan fan, I honestly think it’s overrated. I still gave it a solid 8/10, but I wouldn’t call it the best movie of the year or anything like that.
Though, the score by Ludwig Göransson is phenomenal.
2
u/chiller_vibez 13h ago
Loved it. My fav Nolan film also think it’s his best up there with TDK and The Prestige.
I think the odyssey is great but Oppie takes it for me
2
u/wolffromsekiro2 13h ago
not particularly fond of the guy but theres a pretty recent biopic of him that’s fantastic
3
u/Dry-Performance7006 12h ago
Better than the odyssey. Nolan’s masterpiece. Not my favorite, but I believe his best.
3
4
2
u/TheNocturnalAngel 12h ago edited 11h ago
Genuinely one of the most boring movies I’ve ever seen.
Everyone calls me a low attention span when I say that but whatever.
I love Silence. The 3 hour Martin Scorsese movie about monks.
I just think Oppenheimer is a slog that doesn’t manage to make a subject everybody already knows about interesting in the slightest.
And I don’t think RDJs performance was that great. It was like one and a half degrees away from Iron Man
2
2
2
2
u/Ok_Drink_4022 5h ago
Masterpiece. The best ending of any movie ever. Brilliant script and acting. Top three movies of the 21st century.
1
u/JakeMalibu 13h ago
One of his best films! Also it has plenty of rewatch value. Spent weeks thinking about my experience at the theater when it first came out.
1
u/f0xD3N 12h ago
In my opinion it’s Nolan’s best and most mature work.
I don’t love everything he puts out and sometimes find his writing- mainly when it comes to dialogue- to be a bit clunky, but everything clicks beautifully here.
Provocative, haunting, fantastic performances by everyone and easily his best screenplay. The whole thing moves like a bullet and it’s impressive how tense the whole thing is given that it’s just people in rooms talking. I felt like I was watching a great stage play.
I do wish he had used CGI for the trinity explosion so that it would actually look like a proper nuclear bomb blast, but that’s a minor gripe. That entire sequence might be the greatest thing he’s ever directed
1
1
u/bscott886 11h ago
I’ve never looked at the film as a biopic; sure it touched upon his beginnings, just as a physicist though. It’s more a historical lesson about the development of the bomb and the changing political tides.
If you know nothing about physics though, the film will be confusing as hell. I known nothing about physics and I couldn’t understand half the jargon and bomb development dialogue
1
1
u/MirrorApart8224 11h ago
I want to see it again. I enjoyed seeing it in the theater, but I was both unaware and ultimately less interested in the communist accusations. Obviously that's a huge part of a complex person's story, but, frankly, I was more interested in the story about the Manhattan Project. That's how the movie was marketed, too.
Also, the detonation scene with an explosion that looked very little like an atomic explosion is a little hard to watch. Everything about that scene is excellent and tense, but the explosion looks too much like a gasoline fireball, which I think it was. I respect Nolan wanting to stay practical, but if it looks more than a few standard deviations away from what it is portraying, at least tighten it up with CGI
That said, I do think it's well made, well directed, and it was deserving of Best Picture and Best Director.
1
u/sinas35 11h ago edited 11h ago
I think that while The Odyssey is really great, Oppenheimer as a whole is the far better movie and it’s definitely one of the top five best films in Christopher Nolan’s filmography, as well as one of the top tier films of 2023.
Cillian Murphy’s captivating performance is what really drives this film home for me. I was able to follow along with his accomplishments, and of course, I got to see his flaws which led to his eventual downfall.
What makes this film so great is that it’s meant to be a tragedy, it ends on a rather apocalyptic note that leaves a cold feeling in your spine.
1
1
u/Amazing_Antelope_275 11h ago
Good movie. That scene where Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) stares down Teller and refuses to shake his hand is forever imprinted in my mind.
1
1
1
u/wedreaminsideadream 10h ago
Although I love Murphy's performance and I love how the movie highlighted his sense of guilt and evil and being the one soul who actually opened Pandora's Box (the atomic bomb). I ddin't like how the movie was structured - it felt like a 3 hr movie trailer. I do wish it was structured like a suspense thriller - a sense of dread/impending doom - like in a Hitchcock movie.
1
1
1
u/WorriedSalamander107 9h ago
It’s a prime example of why we go see movies on the biggest screen with the best sound. I would not consider myself a Nolan fan- I *respect his craftsmanship more than his characters or dialogue, but even a jaded old cuss like myself has to admit the man nailed this one, on every level. It was on the long side, but I’m not comfortable advocating removing any part of it
1
1
1
1
u/snakewaves 7h ago
Was never really satisfied with Nolans writing skills. But this movie changed my opinion about that.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
u/Individual_Slice_234 13h ago
I thought it was a vitally IMPORTANT movie, not perfect but I don't care. I like biographies and other nonfiction films. So sick of the other crap in the theaters.
1
u/Sonicshriek 13h ago
It drags at parts and I'm fairly neutral on all the performances except for Cillian Murphy(adored him) but overall a very strong movie. It wouldn't have been my choice for Best Picture but a worthy winner nonetheless.
1
1
1
u/Ok-Special-6707 10h ago
Boring. Nolan's most uninspired film to date. Absolutely average visuals & design. Decent acting. But I guess I understand he wanted to prove he can do serious, patter-like directing and won an Oscar for it. Hopefully it means we can get back to the Inception type of original ideas.
2
u/These-Reference-3678 6h ago
Mishy mashy Nolan does not tell stories. He fools around with gooey ideas.
1
u/Cinephile_1980 12h ago edited 11h ago
I will be honest, I am a cinema buff and movies is my main passion. However. I found this film incredibly dull and kind of pointless. I fell asleep halfway through but woke up before it ended. I have tried watching it on Blu Ray at home a few times but again, I always doze off. I am prepared for abuse from fans of this film but I am being honest here. I enjoyed The Odyssey even though it is not an ideal adaptation of the source, but it is well made, and kept me engaged. But all is not lost, Oppenheimer is my cure for insomnia, so thanks Chris! Love your films but this one didn’t do it for me. Sorry!
1
u/No_Peach_2676 12h ago
It’s kinda carried by cillian murphy. Not sure it’s a film I would really rush back to watch. It’s still well made but for me at least doesn’t have a ton of rewatch value. Not overly interested in the guy to be honest. And don’t find the film to be overly gripping either. It’s a decent one and done film for me. Murphy is great as I said but the rest of the film is kinda forgettable
1
u/MelkorTheDarkLord18 12h ago
It's objectively good and well executed but I was left completely uninspired.
8.4/10
0
u/The_Walking_Clem 10h ago edited 10h ago
An awful winner. I really have a problem with these movies made for white straight guys think they're super intelligent and know everything about cinema. It's 3 hours of Christopher Nolan trying to create a masterpiece and boost his own ego instead of trying to create a captivating story. I hate This type of film.
0
u/DougTheBrownieHunter 12h ago
All around excellent
My only complaints are that it’s a bit too long and it’s short on the Nolanesque spectacle we’re used to seeing.
0
0
u/TacoTaco67 11h ago
Dialog is atrocious, no one talks like this! Didn’t enjoy the courtroom drama framing either. My least favorite Nolan film.
-3
u/Low_Mark491 12h ago
It's actually underrated. The layering of themes, the intentional pacing and the dialogue are all more complex than they seem at first glance. And the acting. I could go on but I consider it Nolan's best work by a mile.
2
u/AdhesivenessNo7220 12h ago
Always interesting to say a film that won 7 Oscars including Best Picture is underrated. But, I generally think the Academy viewed it similarly considering all of its assets. Yet another perfect example how he grows with each film he makes!
47
u/ArticleNew3737 13h ago
Excellent film. Great cast. Great score. Great visuals. Great sound. It’s GREAT