Oppenheimer (2023)

[The Dark Alfred]

Personally I loved the third act, What follows the Trinity sequence is an absolute acting masterclass and the pace and the editing with the score is just cinema at its best. Also a strong ending but that is expected from Nolan. He has nailed some incredible endings throughout his career. Hard to even rank them lol Inception. TDK. The Prestige. Memento. All epic.

[keysersoze123]

2 hours ago, The Dark Alfred said:

Personally I loved the third act, What follows the Trinity sequence is an absolute acting masterclass and the pace and the editing with the score is just cinema at its best. Also a strong ending but that is expected from Nolan. He has nailed some incredible endings throughout his career. Hard to even rank them lol Inception. TDK. The Prestige. Memento. All epic.

Nolan's strength is always the ending. TDKR ending was simply fantastic as was Interstellar, Dunkirk or even Tenet. Even I am not sure what is my favorite. I have a recency bias with Oppenheimer for sure but reactions to the ending for TDK in my midnight Imax show was amazing. 

[reddevil19]

The Manhattan Project part flows the best for me. It's quite classic thriller, maybe even approaching heist movie structure, with the "let's build a team, let's make a plan, let's get it done" aspects. I still think Nolan is one of the best out there at this - which is why  wouldn't mind another heist movie from him at some point, or even an LA Confidential-style detective story. The post-bombing scene in the auditorium is one of the most impactful in any recent movie and one of the best scenes Nolan's ever directed.

 

The last act however I feel is even better, even if it doesn't quite have that fast pacing. It's great in a whole different way. It allows the other characters and actors more time to shine, and the courtroom drama feel of it all is quite gripping. And obviously the ending is just amazing. TDK, Inception, Oppenheimer - Nolan really has mastered the art of the last scene crashing to black. For all the accusations of emotional sterility, the way those movies combine music and visuals, but building on everything the movie has shown us so far absolutely means an emotional punch. It may mean you go out pumped, you go out confused, questioning what happened (in a good way) or just pondering whether self-destruction is our nature and inevitable conclusion.

 

Anyway, I just wanna mention the score. I've listened to it on its own 2-3 times now and while I like it, I don't think it's anywhere as memorable as his Batman trilogy, Inception or Interstellar. HOWEVER, as part of the movie, it is absolutely outstanding. It just works perfectly as part of the entire cinematic experience. Dunkirk is probably the only one that comes close, but as tis is a 3 hour movie with the music almost ever-present, it just makes it that much more impressive.

[WorkingonaName]

I listen to the score when I study now.

[BoxOfficeZ]

Rewatching it the second time it flies by even quicker. I think the only issue I really have with it is the cringy way they had Oppenheimer say "I am death" during the sex scene. Rolled my eyes so hard. 

[abracadabra1998]

On a rewatch- soooooooo good. Liked it even better than the first time (and I gave it 5 stars at first lol).

 

Couple of things that stood out:

 

1) "Can you feel the music?" You hear a character (Bohr) say that early in the movie, and that keeps coming back over and over again. Oppenheimer feels homesick and lost at first- barely any music, or rather disturbing sounds; Oppy finds (what he believes to be) his purpose, first in Europe and then at Los Alamos, and the movie's score throws us some beautiful melodies and awesome, bombastic pieces; in the third act, after Trinity, the music is much more contained (except for a few bombastic pieces at times, Nolan can't help himself). He was never able to hear the music again ("I believe that we did" start a chain reaction to destroy the world)

 

2) The auditorium scene is a masterpiece, and is by far my favorite scene of any movie in 2023. That single scream was so hard-hitting, and left perhaps a greater impression and done more masterfully than showing any footage of Hiroshima or Nagasaki could ever do (I am so so glad he didn't go that route)

 

Right now it's in my Nolan top 4, but it might honestly edge out Inception for number 3.

[excel1]

"its not if you can read the music, but can you hear the music?" also reinforced the overarching theme of turning the theoretical into something real and practical. 

[Joel M]

Finally watched and it's one of Nolan's best movies. The movie and its rhythm consumed me from the get go. It all just clicks so well together even the last hour, everyone (and I mean everyone) is so good in it, I barely noticed how long it is.

Despite the rave reviews I never really loved Dunkirk, and thought this one might also not be an ideal project for Nolan, but in retrospect it fits like a glove with his sensibilities. Need to see it again asap. 

[IronJimbo & Sheldon's Son]

5 hours ago, abracadabra1998 said:

2) The auditorium scene is a masterpiece, and is by far my favorite scene of any movie in 2023. That single scream was so hard-hitting, and left perhaps a greater impression and done more masterfully than showing any footage of Hiroshima or Nagasaki could ever do (I am so so glad he didn't go that route)

Yeah I think this is a scene that will be remembered for years and decades to come as the defining moment of the film, it was incredibly well executed.

[excel1]

There are a number of strong scenes but everything leading up to the bomb explosion was perfection, though the explosion itself is underwhelming. 

[Torontofan]

The ending conversation between Oppenheimer and Einstein is just perfection. That scene alone hit harder then any of Nolans recent works.

 

Nolans best film since Interstellar

 

A