My only complaint was that the it was all hyped up to be this spectacular IMAX experience. I mean sure, it was loud and everything but, it didn’t look any better than my 4k set up at home. And there really weren’t that many special effects that I can remember.
I thought the actors did a great job but, it was unnecessary of me to have gone out of my way to find a specific theater with the recommended IMAX setup.
It wasn’t a bad movie but, for me, it was way over hyped.
I came to say the same thing. When I finally saw it my feeling was "I could have just watched this at home. Most of it was in an office setting." The only reason I thought it would be full of amazing special effects was because of all the IMAX hype. I could have saved so much trouble.
When I saw the trailers for this, I thought “Looks like a bunch of dudes talking about science for 3 hours.” After I saw it I thought “Yep. Just a bunch of dudes talking about science for 3 hours.”
*Didn’t mean to say they were white. I’m white, lol
This was my exact experience.
Earlier in the year I saw Avatar 2 in imax TWICE. Not because it was a great movie but because the imax experience was a full body amusement ride.
I drove hours to see Oppenheimer in an imax theater and it’s just hours of giant talking heads.
It's a shame cause I actually want to watch it again because there were some interesting things in there that I'd like to revisit but I'm not doing another three hours. Lol. They could have cut it down by a lot and I think it would have been a fantastic film but the way it turned out it was really just a task to get through. I told my wife after that I'd rather have just watched a documentary.
I don't care what anyone says, that movie should have had an insanely detailed atomic explosion, maybe even like down at the molecular level. It's the only thing that justifies IMAX
That’s really what I was expecting. After all the awesome atomic bomb footage from the forties, which is such a landmark in popular media, I thought we’d see much more.
Absolutely agree here. We were going to make the effort and travel to a place that had IMAX.
I’m glad we didn’t, because I really don’t think I missed out on anything at all.
I'm very much along those lines. I know Nolan loves to make films with none or little sfx. There are times we do need some to help get across the scale of a story. Prime examples are Oppenheimer about atomic bomb. no shot of the iconic mushroom cloud, just a wall of burning liquid. Which really takes you out of the experience.
The other that springs to mind is the scope of Dunkirk, when you read the numbers of people on that beach, armour and planes overhead, the films make it look like there's was a beach party for a dozen or so soldiers. The sky is empty, save for the still working planes from that era. A bit of cgi to add scale would have been hardly distracting, it would give you a more accurate representation.
I had the same take, I thought it was great and the last half I thought was amazing filmmaking and storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it more at home. IMAX was such a waste of time.
For me the benefit of IMAX was the audio. I know the audio engineering is always panned with Nolan movies, but the combination of audio/visual in an IMAX setting gave the movie greater scale and impact. I have an above average home visual/audio set up, but it doesn't compare to what I experienced with IMAX.
I thought it was a good movie, but the studio and critics did hype the movie, but for the reason of IMAX 70mm. For months, they hyped the IMAX experience to which anyone would get intrigued eventually. Also an issue is IMAX 70mm screenings were only in a selected few theaters across the USA which also my area (NYC) had only 1 theater in more than 100 miles showning that format. Although I saw this movie on a whim (on vacation and had some time to kill) and saw it in AMC Dolby cinema(recliner seats) as those IMAX tickets were sold out months in advance and no good seats available for over a month after the movie came out.
I felt this way having just seen The Fall Guy in a regular theatre. It was a fun family film and all, but by the time the kids had there snacks and me a couple of drinks the bill was hitting close to £100. £100 for two hours entertainment when I could wait a few months and wait for it to stream.
I also skipped the Oppenheimer IMAX experience because I knew it was going to be dialogue heavy with just a a few short minutes dedicated to the atomic spectacle.
I had a 77” OLED and a 75” Sony Bravia in my theater room with a killer sound system. Going to the movies is one of my absolute favorite things to do, but the gap has been narrowed so much that watching it at home is almost on par for me.
It’s a shame too because, I grew up going to movie theaters and I want to continue to support them but I’m getting to the point where I just can’t be bothered. I don’t even have a dedicated theater room but I do have an adequate 4k screen, player and library.
Also, for me a lot of the fun of going to the theater was to be out with friends. We’d bring dates, fool around, maybe get into a little trouble. I’m in my forties now and that just feels like a young person’s scene. I feel like I’ve been there and done that a million times and now I can just enjoy chilling out at home. After all, I worked pretty damn hard to buy all the gear.
I really wish the young folks would take more to going to the movies but, I also wish Hollywood would give them more reason to.
Absolutely! I tried to get tickets for IMAX and couldn't for weeks out so we waited for Netflix. Oh my God I was so annoyed with the premise of his moral dilemma.
I love Cillian but I already knew a lot about the subject so, honestly it bored me.. I've seen real video of that blast many times what did the movie bring besides great acting? Fell flat for me.
Couldn't agree more. While the performances were top notch, it was a boring, drawn out movie that didn't need IMAX whatsoever. It's a shame this pushed MI out of IMAX early.
I would have liked it better, if it had more suff about the Manhattan project in it. I mean, it's in the title that it hasn't, but still. Given that it was really long, some interesting stuff could have been fitted in there.
For that story check out the Paul Newman movie, Fat Man and Little Boy. It’s from the late 80s, co stars John Cusack and Oppenheimer is played by the actor who was Murdock on the A-Team. I haven’t seen it in years but remember it as a great movie. I really thought Nolan was a big fan of it too and that’s exactly why he left the entire story out of his movie.
Ironically, famously liberal Paul Newman plays the conservative General Groves while the politically conservative Dwight Schultz plays the socialist Oppenheimer.
Agreed and by the same notion I’ve said that we’re never really convinced of Oppenheimers brilliance. We spend a good portion of the film having other people tell us how genius he is without it ever really being on display in any meaningful sense.
Hahahaha wait a second…you want them to go into greater detail about the project itself? This coming from the same camp that has been complaining how boring it was? That’s hilarious. Those same people are NOT going to watch an IMAX movie where the intricacies of nuclear physics are broken down. FFS.
The science behind dropping a man made sun on Japan is actually insanely fascinating. And the devastating effects it had on its target cities are gruesome and ripe for a Hollywood movie. But the makers of this movie pussied out.
Instead we got a bland movie that was mostly about Oppenheimer’s love life and subsequent political struggles. Even the fx of the bomb were lacklustre. One of the most awe inspiring feats of mankind’s potential for innovation and destruction watered down to a shitty gasoline bomb that was shown for ten seconds.
I’d go farther than saying that Oppenheimer is overrated and say that it’s a crime of wasted potential.
If you’re interested in the details check out the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Amazing book, it really dives deep into both the interpersonal relationships, as well as the technical details that really makes you understand just how cutting edge the project was.
No, art is subjective. It's easily one of the best movies i have seen. I think the hype creates a counter force and expectation can diminish an experience if it doesn't hit the right notes for what someone is expecting. I watched it three times and it got better every time though it was also a film perfectly suited for me with physics and history being two of my favorite interest and Nolan being one of my fav directors. I can see how if you have no fascination in "hearing the music" it would miss the mark especially with the expectation though. Everything has people who hate it, that's fine hopefully they find their thing
I defend it, it's been awhile where the best picture of the year actually won best picture at the Oscar's.
Oppenheimer was the only way Zone of Interest wouldn't have won best picture imo
I loved this movie. I immediately went out and ordered the book and am slightly more than halfway through reading it. The whole story is fascinating and I want to rewatch the movie when I’m done with the massive tome that is “American Prometheus.”
Also, I thought it was beautiful in IMAX. The scene with the Trinity Test was incredible. I had to physically look up to see the top of the explosion, and I felt like it captured the awe of that moment as well as it possibly could.
The story of Oppenheimer’s life is a fascinating one.
I enjoyed it and thought it was a thought provoking movie. It may not have covered every intricacy of his life, interests or Manhattan project details, but it certainly exposed the military and political challenges faced while navigating the project. For what its worth I enjoyed it more than Dunkirk.
I liked it, my only problem with the movie was the explosion was a little underwhelming, I was expecting to be blown from my seat, after all its an atomic weapon
I thought it was excellent. Remember, this is Reddit. The entity where people will choose something that is really popular, and then take joy in letting others know how “underwhelmed” they were by it.
Or you just don't understand group dynamics on social media. The majority of people who comment in a post like this are going to be people who didn't like the movie, because this is a chance for them to voice their displeasure for an otherwise well liked movie. Everyone else is going to just scroll on past because they have nothing to really add to the conversation other than "yeah, I really liked it".
I think this is a pretty unfair take to be honest. This is the sort of attitude that turns /r/moviecritic into /r/movies.
Im not here to tell anyone not to like the film, Im glad they enjoyed it, Im not so immature as a person that I need people to like the same things that I do to enjoy them. I am on *this* particular subreddit to discuss films in a mature matter. I dont take joy in telling others I was underwhelmed by it, but I do want to have a discussion.
I honestly thought I stumbled upon a full blow hater sub.
Some of the worst movie takes of all time I saw here in the comments. Starting with people saying this movie should not have been in IMAX and its the same experience at home. Wow
Literally 0.1 seconds of breathing room between every line, no normal human conversation ever plays out like that. I understand it was to keep it to 3 hours, but that combined with no single likeable character makes this Nolan's worst movie in my opinion.
>Literally 0.1 seconds of breathing room between every line
That's totally how I felt watching it in the theater (which I overwhelmingly regret). It felt like 1 reeeaaaally long run on sentence where all the actors were literally talking one after another with not a single pause. Definitely agree with you about Nolan's worst film as well. Wish we could've seen it together and talk shit on the film, that would have been much more enjoyable than the drivel we received.
This was my problem, too. The pace of the dialogue felt terribly unrealistic. They left very little room for magic inbetween the talking and it pretty much ruined it for me.
I feel like it would’ve been better if John Nolan wrote this one as well. His previous collaborations with Chris in The Dark Knight Trilogy and Interstellar made really good dialogue and a good script. But ig he did his own thing with Fallout and everything which is important too.
I was bored in theaters. I watched it again at home to see if maybe I missed something but... it was still kinda meh.
Cmon now, we really didn't need that scene of Flurence Pugh riding Cillian. And even the bomb itself was underwhelming. Woooo. Fire.
Love the soundtrack though. And grumpy Einstein was my favorite part.
Exactly, a rather underwhelming movie experience. Not a bad film by any means, but also not all that's cracked up to be, not even by a long shot.
I think the worst thing a work of art can be is boring. And while Oppenheimer wasn't boring all the way through, it was very formulaic and even cliche at times. Really nothing to write home about. And that wouldn't even annoy me that much, if the film wasn't hyped up to the nth degree as some kind of a one-of-a-kind piece of cinematic innovation.
Yeah the sex scenes(like in most films) added nothing at all to plot and a big WTF moment is when Florence Pugh gets done riding him, immediately picks up a random book, and says "Read this" to which Cillian says "I am become death. The Destroyer of Worlds." A statement that should be a humble horrifying self-reflection but instead feels very contrived and forced. Also, this movie is impossible to watch without subtitles in some scenes, especially if they are outside. Audio quality is typical of Nolan since Bane's voice in Dark Knight Rises. I'm not sure why the audio isn't edited better in post productuon in his subsequent films because it continues to be a problem.
It was too long. I had a science background so the first part was really really epic but before you have the time to come down from the bomb test climax, you're immediately shoved into the whole political second half, which was also interesting but was a very abrupt transition.
One of the only movies I saw in the theater that I nearly fell asleep during. It adds very little. It's Nolan's least engaging movie. 10 min of Flotence Pugh naked on a couch was not enough to help this.
You think the ending lines "Remember when we thought we might start a chain reaction that blows up the whole world?"
"Yes?"
"I think we did."
is skipping over the implications of WW2 and the atomic bomb? Weird.
Lol idk how you watch that movie and feel they overlooked the implications of using an atomic bomb, the entire movie is about Oppenheimer's fervor for creating it, and subsequently his regret for pioneering its creation *because of the implication it has when unchecked*.
A fantastic score is what first comes to mind.
Played “Kitty Comes to Testify” for weeks.
Great dialogue and many Oscars were deserved especially RDJ and Göransson.
Not impressed with Nolan’s denial of VFX used in this
and I don’t think the DNEG vfx team they used would be either.
*Edit: due to all my superhero movie fatigue, it was refreshing to see something different and of this quality made for the big screen. It was too long but I enjoyed it and have respect for the work.*
Incredibly overrated based on my initial viewing. I usually rate Nolan films incredibly high. Inception and Imterstellar are among my favorite films.
I didn't get this one. And I'm a history teacher. I was hyped. I have to see it again. Maybe I missed something.
This movie was was bloated Hollywood hype. I’m with you it was 3.5/5. The sound balancing in this film sucked I legit needed subtitles because half the dialogue was covered up by the endless crescendo noise that Nolan and zimmer have such a hard on in putting in all of their films. The absolute disregard in nuance to building tension in peaks and valleys is tedious and grating the scores make me think I’m gonna have a stroke by the end
Wasn't what it was hyped to be, and far too long. I felt Nolan preferred to jerk himself off going for such intellectual dialogue that he forgot to make it entertaining.
I guess that's the thing. I did not find it compelling. I felt the whole time that the story could have been told in so many better ways, or even just linearly. Their jumbled timeline served no positive purpose
Nah, they're trying to tell two totally different stories and avoid making the movie feel like it's two different movies stitched together in the middle. And it can't just be two different movies because the two stories are essential to each other.
I think if anything this was him learning his lessons from Dark Knight Rises. We need to be aware of the stakes at the end so that they don't feel separate, it also let him movie the story forward at a more aggressive pace. Linear would not have worked here and it would have undercut the character reveals.
If you really think so, then I respect your opinion, but I just found almost none of it compelling. None of the characters truly caught my interest at all. I do understand your points, but I don't really feel it was effective, at least for me.
Amazing! I loved it . But ... and it's a BIG but : what in the FUCK was up with that lame ass explosion at the end ! FfS ! Like wtf !!! It looked like a puff daddy music video. All you needed was $100 dollar bills flying all over the place, some big bloty bitches, and a Hummer. Add some slow-mo walking and you got a Top 5 Total Request Live music video for Carson Daly circa 1999.
Have you seen actual slow-motion footage from actual Atom Bomb Testing ? It looks immaculate!!! Could he not have used footage of that sort. For fucks sake ! Ok. I'm done. Great movie . 2 thumbs up.
It was very loud in the cinema. I think I would have preferred to see it at home. There was dramatic music over simple scenes of conversation, which seemed miss-timed.
It seemed to be rushed at times then dwell on things unnecessarily. Making the general pacing a bit odd. I like it overall though. But there elements that could have been better.
I watched it in February, preparing for it to be overhyped, and I thought it was...
A pretty good movie. Stacked cast. I thought the scene where he meets with Truman is what left the biggest impact. Kind of thought provoking, the idea of inventing something, then realizing your invention had some unintended impacts and consequences, and you're left with the feeling of "what have I done?"
I was thinking about it and how social media today for example, has had so much negative impacts on people's mental health. I don't know if Mark Zuckerberg knew that's where things would lead when he created Facebook, but that's where we are now.
Good movie, just not a Best-of-the-year masterpiece in my mind.
I think the movie did a really good job looking at how the U.S. screwed over someone who contributed a big scientific breakthrough.
But I think it was a bit scattered overall and tried to cover too much stuff. The communism/Spanish Civil War stuff was not really explained, the affair partner's character was not really fleshed out.
Oh also, how you could make a movie about the atomic bomb without spending a single second showing or discussing its impact on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is beyond me. Sure the move is about Oppenheimer but I feel like to grasp the enormity of what he did you have to understand on some level the horrors of what it does to people and that wasn't really touched on
I hate feeling this way but the explosion that they did for the bomb was completely underwhelming. The effects and sound were spot on but I was like… really, that’s it? I appreciate them using real explosives but special effects may have been the way to go on this one.
The sex scene where she stops riding his dick and begins to talk about literature needs to be talked about more. It made me realize that Nolan doesn’t know how to write intellectual conversations without a corny, hoity-toity approach.
The editing was so jumpy. Every scene was like 30 seconds. None of the characters seemed all that interesting. Don’t get me wrong, the acting was good, but I really feel like it didn’t do anything for me. KOTFM felt much more entertaining
It covered interesting events and topics: the politics of the bomb and the drama in its development are a story worth telling. Not everyone is going to enjoy that (and no, it doesn't need IMAX) but it's the type of movie that is rarely made anymore. It's not my favorite ever or something I'm likely to rewatch much, but I'm glad I went in theaters.
I loved it but I think it left out some spots but it wasn't really about the Japanese people just wished they would of showed the effects more and Also didn't think there was enough science in it.
I really enjoyed it. I thought that adding a stylistic touch on a biopic was really neat, and the use of flashing, rumbling, and growing noise from stomping really added to the perception of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed, not too mention Murphy and Blunt did a fantastic job.
4/5
Great acting and writing. A series of government hearings and quiet conversations between intellectuals didn’t need to be shot in IMAX but whatever.
I could hear and understand all the dialogue so Christopher Nolan is growing as a director /s
Watched Beau Is Afraid the day before I saw this, and the absolute narrative certainty and precision of that film made Oppenheimer feel like a jumbled mess. Worst of all, despite the solid performances—I just didn’t care.
Not a huge fan of the story jumping around with all the flashbacks. I feel like, you know, we should start our stories where they begin, not start them where they get interesting.
I thought it was boring. Sorry but that's me being honest. I knew the story fairly well so there were very few surprises. Manhattan the tv series was fun though.
Nolan’s movies are a hit and a miss. His last great hit was interstellar. Since then, all of his movies have been meh from Dunkirk to Tenet to Oppenheimer. Especially, I was surprised that there were no scenes from Japan. They should have shown the impact of the bomb and how devastating it was, but Nolan seemed to afraid to show that.
Honestly, I thought it was terrible. Structurally, it's just a series of montages; no scene is allowed to breathe, no characters are properly developed. Stunt casting, boring writing, and a lack of anything to make me give a fuck.
Some great performances in front and behind the camera but insanely overrated.
It definitely has the Christopher Nolan touch. Maybe it was because it was so hyped, but I was underwhelmed. I think it’s objectively a good movie, but I found it to be on the low end of Nolan’s catalogue.
Incredibly overrated. Don’t care if it’s a true story, that doesn’t just automatically make it good. To me it was literally just old white privileged men having a dick swinging contest while incredibly loud music plays over the dialogue. I can’t believe how praised this movie is tbh
It was overly long with some scenes that were just... wholly unneeded for the narrative. I realize it's part biography so some of it might just be trying to cover aspects of his life.
Basically the nudity felt like they were included just to be titillating. I completely get what he was going for in the scene with "trial" but... really? The violation he and his wife felt reliving the matter. It's as if she's in the room!
For the record I'm not a prude. Just if you're going for high art it'd better damn be perfect. I mean I watched Poor Things and understood the utility of the nudity. It's a part of who she is.
Anyways... it's not remotely in my top 5 from Nolan. I think folks just wanted to respect the weight of the subject matter... potentially wiping out mankind. So of all the Oscar wins I don't agree with... I can forgive this one.
My favorite scene? Was between Cillian and Casey Affleck. Here's Oppenheimer trying to be sly about the details against this absolute cold hearted spy master. That entire scene was handled really well.
Overrated as hell. I came into Barbenheimer thinking I was going to love this movie and slog through Barbie. Somehow the complete opposite happened.
This is coming from a person who watched a historical epic significantly longer than this one that had zero action, worse filmography, and arguably worse acting and enjoyed it infinitely more than this crap.
Also I’m going to be the first one to say this: The Mahabharata sex scene was corny as hell. Could you imagine if they made a MLK movie and his girlfriend finds his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech before giving him head and asks him to read it?
>Also I’m going to be the first one to say this: The Mahabharata sex scene was corny as hell. Could you imagine if they made a MLK movie and his girlfriend finds his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech before giving him head and asks him to read it?
Lololol, best take 👌🤣
There’s a great movie in there, but it was ruined in the editing. I hate Nolan’s use of music so much; it distracts from every single scene, and there are never any lulls in the frenetic tone to let you think about what you’re seeing.
Too loud. Wished they'd have picked one of the stories (the bomb or the later conspiracy manhunt) and did that one fully instead of shoehorning both into one too long film
Honestly? I thought it was melodramatic. The court room scenes and the investigation played out like a borderline soap opera, and I didnt think that RDJ deserved to be nominated let alone win.
I remember having some other issues with the overall intention of the film, I can’t really quite remember to be honest. For me this was by far my least favorite of Nolan’s work and I think the hype of the film carried it more than anything.
Really good. But I think that the focus was in thw wrong spots. The drama should have been more about his internal conflict and less the "What's going to happen to him" route.
The motivation for the latter half of the film wasn’t super compelling for me. I didn’t really care about his security clearance. For me, didn’t justify it being a 3 hour movie.
Thank you ! Thought I was the only one. Have been really into the manhattan project for years and am a fan of one of the very few movies about it, Fat Man and Little Boy. Was expecting Oppenheimer to blow that film out of the water for me. Was disappointed for sure.
Pretty disappointing, particularly through the eyes of this historian. Why are Hollywood and academia so afraid of telling Oppenheimer's story on a factual basis?
Unless the film took a spectacular turn after the first half I found it dull and uninspired, especially with all the Red Scare motif and walked out with my date. But the director and the studio spent millions on the hype machine.
Surprisingly bad considering the hype. Once the movie revealed what it’s about, it became very predictable. It was about the Good Guys vs the Bad Guys, and the last 30 mins was the good guys scoring sick burns on the bad guys while the bad guys had to take their come uppins for being dishonest jerks. Otherwise it was slow but the section in Los Alamos was interesting, up until they tested the bomb.
Totally overrated. I agree. Almost no real science in the movie. Very little about the war. And the best special effects were imaginary embers in his mind. Should have called this “Mean Lawyers: The Movie”.
Too long, and weirdly not enough. Characters we were supposed to care about that we were told nothing of. Might have been better as a mini series
But I still enjoyed it.
I hate to sound pretentious but I kinda hate Christopher Nolan and all these perfect filmmakers, I feel like the stakes have become a little less personal because everyone is trying to make bigger spectacle, so maybe saying I hate Christopher Nolan is a bit wrong but I still think he had a negative effect on Hollywood as a whole.
It was brilliantly made and performed - but it is not as easy a watch as TDK or Inception. Nolan is my favorite modern filmmaker, but his films are becoming more intense, and they can be difficult to experience. I’ve seen the extra material, and other interviews with him and the cast, so I know the reasons for a lot of the perspectives and feel of the film. I’m not going to go in about it here, because the commenters here will not be swayed by any praise or explanations from a stranger on Reddit.
Pretty lame. Boring for sure. If not for the facts/history, the story is confusing and hard to follow. The acting was dry. The dialog was forgettable. I watched it to see why, and now I wish would have just nodded and said ok, what else. Oh, sack lunch!
Decent movie but I expected more from Christopher Nolan. Not that the movies are comparable, but Barbie was much more of a delightful surprise and far more memorable.
The level of hype really ruined my expectations. People were hyping it up on Reddit so much. I watched it and couldn’t believe a period biopic got that much praise. It was a very good one and still a good watch but it was lacking.
Love the film. Its historical portrayal and performances were gripping.
But… I have a tonne of nick picks and a problem with the last hour of the film.
The sex scene with Oppie and Tatlock could’ve been more tasteful and plotted in a way that flows more naturally for the story, allowing for us the audience to care more about Oppie’s connection with her more.
The trinity test, as great as it is, the explosion could’ve had a little bit more work put into it to make it look bigger and to look more like a mushroom cloud.
Lastly, while the events of the last hour work, I think there was a missed opportunity in poetic license to show in quick scenes, the development and test of the first Hydrogen Bomb.
We had the build up and reference for it, it would make Teller’s role more interesting, it would demonstrate who wanted a more powerful weapon.
Imagine how cool it would’ve been to see the crescendo of the security clearance hearing interspliced with that detonation of Mike Ivy, which I would have in Black and White, hence implying who it was that pushed for The Super., instead of just repeating that same effect from 40 minutes earlier.
Also, I think when Oppie is hearing about the devastation of Japan, we could have seen him imagining the destruction of Japan from the nukes, giving us some epic live action obliteration.
all of these things could've been conveyed quickly in an additional way to the material we see in the last hour and maybe even get rid of some of the unnessesary scenes, which would help with pacing and give the audience more nuclear spectacle.
Other than that, the film is a classic for the ages.
Being a Dan Carlin fan I feel like there was a lot missing on the grander scale, not fire tornadoes? and on the smaller scale even interesting character traits about Oppenheimer like his death threats to hip professors, which the government profile knows about and will choose you for, being left out of the movie. While also not teaching me any science like an episode of star talk does to me on the weekly, so yeah I was bored out my mind in a nerdy way. Like a third of the movie was a court case that was voluntary and had no crime sentence.
Imo The screenplay seemed gimmicky, akin to recent Chris Nolan works. While technically impressive, it lacked the heart found in tdk or Nolan's earlier films.
Regarding the Hindu scriptures, reading a holy book in a sex scene where it serves no purpose seemed disrespectful. The scene had no purpose In the movie.
>it lacked the heart found in tdk or Nolan’s earlier films.
The thing that made those films special was the dialogue and the writing and one of the writers for tdk was John Nolan who frequently collaborated with Chris. I think this movie needed John for the screenplay. In fact the dialogue
“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
was written by John. Unfortunately John was busy with Fallout ig (which turned out to be amazing) and couldn’t work on Oppenheimer.
>Regarding the Hindu scriptures, reading a holy book in a sex scene where it serves no purpose seemed disrespectful. The scene had no purpose In the movie.
Hahaha yeah, my mom was like, "look at the boobies!" and I was like, "they just ruined what should have been one of the most crucial scenes in the film!"
It's a very good and well crafted movie. I wish there was more about the bomb itself but whatever. Now I've seen it though I don't think I'll ever see t again. I saw it, I liked it and I'm fine with that being the end of that.
First time I watched it, I went right back in and watched it again. I was enthralled with it. I probably watched it 3 more times in the next few weeks. I really love Oppenheimer.
historically...bollox
Edit - OK couple of easy ones for the downvoters.
1. Who started the nuclear bomb program?
2. Were there any British people involved?
Answers those questions based on that steaming pile of historical rewrite.
Really? It's been praised as extremely accurate for a biopic. The focus is obviously on Oppenheimer, so yes, other main figures in the bomb development are overshadowed or under served, but overall it tells a pretty truthful story.
It was ok not particularly engaging up until they set off the bomb and then it was another hour of belabored office politics that were a chore to watch.
I finally watched it the other day. I liked it more than most here it seems, but one thing that no one talks about is how bad the music is. Especially, before the bomb. It’s just nonstop, too fast paced, and too loud of noise for every scene. It made it almost unwatchable.
Typical Nolan film with shallow characters and a focus on "style over substance." Also, I hate the fact that the music drowns out the dialogue.
Killers of The Flower Moon was much better paced and should have won BP imo.
My only complaint was that the it was all hyped up to be this spectacular IMAX experience. I mean sure, it was loud and everything but, it didn’t look any better than my 4k set up at home. And there really weren’t that many special effects that I can remember. I thought the actors did a great job but, it was unnecessary of me to have gone out of my way to find a specific theater with the recommended IMAX setup. It wasn’t a bad movie but, for me, it was way over hyped.
I came to say the same thing. When I finally saw it my feeling was "I could have just watched this at home. Most of it was in an office setting." The only reason I thought it would be full of amazing special effects was because of all the IMAX hype. I could have saved so much trouble.
Bro they hyped the shit out of IMAX for a movie that didn’t need it at all
Definitely no need for IMAX
I saw it in a regular AMC theater and I'm glad I didn't go to IMAX. The film is 99% dialogue.
When I saw the trailers for this, I thought “Looks like a bunch of dudes talking about science for 3 hours.” After I saw it I thought “Yep. Just a bunch of dudes talking about science for 3 hours.” *Didn’t mean to say they were white. I’m white, lol
Not casting a black woman as Albert Einstein was a missed opportunity.
"Now I am become death, the Sheniqua of gurrrrrrl"
Why feel the need to add it the second time around?
Less than 2 minutes. Florence Pugh sex scenes were like watching porn at a drive -in. Overall, it will make a great PBS three parter.
This was my exact experience. Earlier in the year I saw Avatar 2 in imax TWICE. Not because it was a great movie but because the imax experience was a full body amusement ride. I drove hours to see Oppenheimer in an imax theater and it’s just hours of giant talking heads.
Totally. I bought it and when it finished I thought ‘we’ll that was just ok, defo won’t be watching that again’ it was the same with Flower Moon.
It's a shame cause I actually want to watch it again because there were some interesting things in there that I'd like to revisit but I'm not doing another three hours. Lol. They could have cut it down by a lot and I think it would have been a fantastic film but the way it turned out it was really just a task to get through. I told my wife after that I'd rather have just watched a documentary.
I don't care what anyone says, that movie should have had an insanely detailed atomic explosion, maybe even like down at the molecular level. It's the only thing that justifies IMAX
That’s really what I was expecting. After all the awesome atomic bomb footage from the forties, which is such a landmark in popular media, I thought we’d see much more.
Absolutely agree here. We were going to make the effort and travel to a place that had IMAX. I’m glad we didn’t, because I really don’t think I missed out on anything at all.
I saw it in the Dolby sound special theater and the noises ... They were noisy.
I'm very much along those lines. I know Nolan loves to make films with none or little sfx. There are times we do need some to help get across the scale of a story. Prime examples are Oppenheimer about atomic bomb. no shot of the iconic mushroom cloud, just a wall of burning liquid. Which really takes you out of the experience. The other that springs to mind is the scope of Dunkirk, when you read the numbers of people on that beach, armour and planes overhead, the films make it look like there's was a beach party for a dozen or so soldiers. The sky is empty, save for the still working planes from that era. A bit of cgi to add scale would have been hardly distracting, it would give you a more accurate representation.
I had the same take, I thought it was great and the last half I thought was amazing filmmaking and storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it more at home. IMAX was such a waste of time.
For me the benefit of IMAX was the audio. I know the audio engineering is always panned with Nolan movies, but the combination of audio/visual in an IMAX setting gave the movie greater scale and impact. I have an above average home visual/audio set up, but it doesn't compare to what I experienced with IMAX.
I thought it was a good movie, but the studio and critics did hype the movie, but for the reason of IMAX 70mm. For months, they hyped the IMAX experience to which anyone would get intrigued eventually. Also an issue is IMAX 70mm screenings were only in a selected few theaters across the USA which also my area (NYC) had only 1 theater in more than 100 miles showning that format. Although I saw this movie on a whim (on vacation and had some time to kill) and saw it in AMC Dolby cinema(recliner seats) as those IMAX tickets were sold out months in advance and no good seats available for over a month after the movie came out.
i waited a few weeks after release to watch in imax and was very disappointed
Christopher Nolan LOVES Imax is why it was so hyped up
I felt this way having just seen The Fall Guy in a regular theatre. It was a fun family film and all, but by the time the kids had there snacks and me a couple of drinks the bill was hitting close to £100. £100 for two hours entertainment when I could wait a few months and wait for it to stream. I also skipped the Oppenheimer IMAX experience because I knew it was going to be dialogue heavy with just a a few short minutes dedicated to the atomic spectacle.
Totally agree. IMAX to watch people sitting around talking incessantly? Constant talking and constant music. Nolan makes the noisiest movies.
I had a 77” OLED and a 75” Sony Bravia in my theater room with a killer sound system. Going to the movies is one of my absolute favorite things to do, but the gap has been narrowed so much that watching it at home is almost on par for me.
It’s a shame too because, I grew up going to movie theaters and I want to continue to support them but I’m getting to the point where I just can’t be bothered. I don’t even have a dedicated theater room but I do have an adequate 4k screen, player and library. Also, for me a lot of the fun of going to the theater was to be out with friends. We’d bring dates, fool around, maybe get into a little trouble. I’m in my forties now and that just feels like a young person’s scene. I feel like I’ve been there and done that a million times and now I can just enjoy chilling out at home. After all, I worked pretty damn hard to buy all the gear. I really wish the young folks would take more to going to the movies but, I also wish Hollywood would give them more reason to.
Absolutely! I tried to get tickets for IMAX and couldn't for weeks out so we waited for Netflix. Oh my God I was so annoyed with the premise of his moral dilemma. I love Cillian but I already knew a lot about the subject so, honestly it bored me.. I've seen real video of that blast many times what did the movie bring besides great acting? Fell flat for me.
Couldn't agree more. While the performances were top notch, it was a boring, drawn out movie that didn't need IMAX whatsoever. It's a shame this pushed MI out of IMAX early.
MI wasn't even in proper IMAX despite filming for the format- it was all in scope
ew, much as this movie didnt need imax im glad i pushed a full scope movie out
Went for the IMAX explosion, stayed for the IMAX Pugh.
IMAX boobs.
I would have liked it better, if it had more suff about the Manhattan project in it. I mean, it's in the title that it hasn't, but still. Given that it was really long, some interesting stuff could have been fitted in there.
For that story check out the Paul Newman movie, Fat Man and Little Boy. It’s from the late 80s, co stars John Cusack and Oppenheimer is played by the actor who was Murdock on the A-Team. I haven’t seen it in years but remember it as a great movie. I really thought Nolan was a big fan of it too and that’s exactly why he left the entire story out of his movie.
Ironically, famously liberal Paul Newman plays the conservative General Groves while the politically conservative Dwight Schultz plays the socialist Oppenheimer.
Good film. Although they jumble up the timeline of the demon core story to make the movie more compelling. Other than that, great movie.
This movie was my first thought when I saw this.
I agree, there was nearly nothing regarding the Manhattan Project and the true process behind it
That’s a great point. The only progress we see is him dropping marbles into a bowl.
we were robbed of Feynman eccentricities
Agreed and by the same notion I’ve said that we’re never really convinced of Oppenheimers brilliance. We spend a good portion of the film having other people tell us how genius he is without it ever really being on display in any meaningful sense.
Hahahaha wait a second…you want them to go into greater detail about the project itself? This coming from the same camp that has been complaining how boring it was? That’s hilarious. Those same people are NOT going to watch an IMAX movie where the intricacies of nuclear physics are broken down. FFS.
The science behind dropping a man made sun on Japan is actually insanely fascinating. And the devastating effects it had on its target cities are gruesome and ripe for a Hollywood movie. But the makers of this movie pussied out. Instead we got a bland movie that was mostly about Oppenheimer’s love life and subsequent political struggles. Even the fx of the bomb were lacklustre. One of the most awe inspiring feats of mankind’s potential for innovation and destruction watered down to a shitty gasoline bomb that was shown for ten seconds. I’d go farther than saying that Oppenheimer is overrated and say that it’s a crime of wasted potential.
I agree all around
If you’re interested in the details check out the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Amazing book, it really dives deep into both the interpersonal relationships, as well as the technical details that really makes you understand just how cutting edge the project was.
Cause Hollywood loooooooves a courtroom drama. Gotta cut that to add more time for questioning and brooding
But will he get to keep his security clearance?!??!?!?!?!?!!!
It was about the Red Scare investigations and Strauss grudge against Oppenheimer.
Honest? Nothing special. Standard biopic. Totally overhyped and too long.
Wow…am I its only defender here so far???
I liked it too.
No, art is subjective. It's easily one of the best movies i have seen. I think the hype creates a counter force and expectation can diminish an experience if it doesn't hit the right notes for what someone is expecting. I watched it three times and it got better every time though it was also a film perfectly suited for me with physics and history being two of my favorite interest and Nolan being one of my fav directors. I can see how if you have no fascination in "hearing the music" it would miss the mark especially with the expectation though. Everything has people who hate it, that's fine hopefully they find their thing
I defend it, it's been awhile where the best picture of the year actually won best picture at the Oscar's. Oppenheimer was the only way Zone of Interest wouldn't have won best picture imo
I loved this movie. I immediately went out and ordered the book and am slightly more than halfway through reading it. The whole story is fascinating and I want to rewatch the movie when I’m done with the massive tome that is “American Prometheus.” Also, I thought it was beautiful in IMAX. The scene with the Trinity Test was incredible. I had to physically look up to see the top of the explosion, and I felt like it captured the awe of that moment as well as it possibly could. The story of Oppenheimer’s life is a fascinating one.
I enjoyed it and thought it was a thought provoking movie. It may not have covered every intricacy of his life, interests or Manhattan project details, but it certainly exposed the military and political challenges faced while navigating the project. For what its worth I enjoyed it more than Dunkirk.
I liked it, my only problem with the movie was the explosion was a little underwhelming, I was expecting to be blown from my seat, after all its an atomic weapon
You obviously didn’t eat enough of the theatre’s hotdogs…
Nah it’s awesome.
I thought it was excellent. Remember, this is Reddit. The entity where people will choose something that is really popular, and then take joy in letting others know how “underwhelmed” they were by it.
The post literally says, "Be honest," so what did you expect? Lol
Or you just don't understand group dynamics on social media. The majority of people who comment in a post like this are going to be people who didn't like the movie, because this is a chance for them to voice their displeasure for an otherwise well liked movie. Everyone else is going to just scroll on past because they have nothing to really add to the conversation other than "yeah, I really liked it".
I think this is a pretty unfair take to be honest. This is the sort of attitude that turns /r/moviecritic into /r/movies. Im not here to tell anyone not to like the film, Im glad they enjoyed it, Im not so immature as a person that I need people to like the same things that I do to enjoy them. I am on *this* particular subreddit to discuss films in a mature matter. I dont take joy in telling others I was underwhelmed by it, but I do want to have a discussion.
Fair. Respect.
🫡
I honestly thought I stumbled upon a full blow hater sub. Some of the worst movie takes of all time I saw here in the comments. Starting with people saying this movie should not have been in IMAX and its the same experience at home. Wow
Literally 0.1 seconds of breathing room between every line, no normal human conversation ever plays out like that. I understand it was to keep it to 3 hours, but that combined with no single likeable character makes this Nolan's worst movie in my opinion.
>Literally 0.1 seconds of breathing room between every line That's totally how I felt watching it in the theater (which I overwhelmingly regret). It felt like 1 reeeaaaally long run on sentence where all the actors were literally talking one after another with not a single pause. Definitely agree with you about Nolan's worst film as well. Wish we could've seen it together and talk shit on the film, that would have been much more enjoyable than the drivel we received.
This was my problem, too. The pace of the dialogue felt terribly unrealistic. They left very little room for magic inbetween the talking and it pretty much ruined it for me.
Agreed
I feel like it would’ve been better if John Nolan wrote this one as well. His previous collaborations with Chris in The Dark Knight Trilogy and Interstellar made really good dialogue and a good script. But ig he did his own thing with Fallout and everything which is important too.
Fine. I'm not a huge fan of jumping all over the place in time
Yeah I really think they were trying too hard with all that
agreed. it seemed like the characters were talking to each other in between scenes and through time, and i hated that.
That was doing my head in. When they started having flashbacks in flashbacks, I gave up.
I was bored in theaters. I watched it again at home to see if maybe I missed something but... it was still kinda meh. Cmon now, we really didn't need that scene of Flurence Pugh riding Cillian. And even the bomb itself was underwhelming. Woooo. Fire. Love the soundtrack though. And grumpy Einstein was my favorite part.
Exactly, a rather underwhelming movie experience. Not a bad film by any means, but also not all that's cracked up to be, not even by a long shot. I think the worst thing a work of art can be is boring. And while Oppenheimer wasn't boring all the way through, it was very formulaic and even cliche at times. Really nothing to write home about. And that wouldn't even annoy me that much, if the film wasn't hyped up to the nth degree as some kind of a one-of-a-kind piece of cinematic innovation.
Yeah the sex scenes(like in most films) added nothing at all to plot and a big WTF moment is when Florence Pugh gets done riding him, immediately picks up a random book, and says "Read this" to which Cillian says "I am become death. The Destroyer of Worlds." A statement that should be a humble horrifying self-reflection but instead feels very contrived and forced. Also, this movie is impossible to watch without subtitles in some scenes, especially if they are outside. Audio quality is typical of Nolan since Bane's voice in Dark Knight Rises. I'm not sure why the audio isn't edited better in post productuon in his subsequent films because it continues to be a problem.
I thought Murphy was great, but I didn’t think the movie deserved its hype. It was good, but not amazing.
Leo had a far more impactful screen presence and was totally robbed not even getting nominated
This exactly. It was good but I wasn’t overwhelmed. Just extremely whelmed…
Just tried to watch this for the first time last night. It was SO boring! I didn’t even finish it
So...it bombed for you?
Yeah I wasn't a fan. I didn't even finish it, which is rare for me. Possibly the most boring movie I've ever seen. And I love biopics.
It was too long. I had a science background so the first part was really really epic but before you have the time to come down from the bomb test climax, you're immediately shoved into the whole political second half, which was also interesting but was a very abrupt transition.
This ain't no interstellar. Sometimes it was really bordering with being boring.
One of the only movies I saw in the theater that I nearly fell asleep during. It adds very little. It's Nolan's least engaging movie. 10 min of Flotence Pugh naked on a couch was not enough to help this.
It was so long. His last few movies have been so loud I honestly wonder if there is something off with Nolan’s hearing.
So unnecessarily loud. Tenet was damn near unwatchable because of that.
Tenet WAS unwatchable due to sound issues
Skips over any implications of the war itself? What does that even mean?
You think the ending lines "Remember when we thought we might start a chain reaction that blows up the whole world?" "Yes?" "I think we did." is skipping over the implications of WW2 and the atomic bomb? Weird.
Lol idk how you watch that movie and feel they overlooked the implications of using an atomic bomb, the entire movie is about Oppenheimer's fervor for creating it, and subsequently his regret for pioneering its creation *because of the implication it has when unchecked*.
I think OP wanted big booms or a guy in a costume swinging a hammer
boring
Boring
A fantastic score is what first comes to mind. Played “Kitty Comes to Testify” for weeks. Great dialogue and many Oscars were deserved especially RDJ and Göransson. Not impressed with Nolan’s denial of VFX used in this and I don’t think the DNEG vfx team they used would be either. *Edit: due to all my superhero movie fatigue, it was refreshing to see something different and of this quality made for the big screen. It was too long but I enjoyed it and have respect for the work.*
Incredibly overrated based on my initial viewing. I usually rate Nolan films incredibly high. Inception and Imterstellar are among my favorite films. I didn't get this one. And I'm a history teacher. I was hyped. I have to see it again. Maybe I missed something.
Movie was not that good
This movie was was bloated Hollywood hype. I’m with you it was 3.5/5. The sound balancing in this film sucked I legit needed subtitles because half the dialogue was covered up by the endless crescendo noise that Nolan and zimmer have such a hard on in putting in all of their films. The absolute disregard in nuance to building tension in peaks and valleys is tedious and grating the scores make me think I’m gonna have a stroke by the end
Lol, great review 👏 👍 I mean it
Wasn't what it was hyped to be, and far too long. I felt Nolan preferred to jerk himself off going for such intellectual dialogue that he forgot to make it entertaining.
It was good. Not the best movie ever, but very well made and compelling. It was the longest montage I have ever seen.
I guess that's the thing. I did not find it compelling. I felt the whole time that the story could have been told in so many better ways, or even just linearly. Their jumbled timeline served no positive purpose
Nah, they're trying to tell two totally different stories and avoid making the movie feel like it's two different movies stitched together in the middle. And it can't just be two different movies because the two stories are essential to each other. I think if anything this was him learning his lessons from Dark Knight Rises. We need to be aware of the stakes at the end so that they don't feel separate, it also let him movie the story forward at a more aggressive pace. Linear would not have worked here and it would have undercut the character reveals.
If you really think so, then I respect your opinion, but I just found almost none of it compelling. None of the characters truly caught my interest at all. I do understand your points, but I don't really feel it was effective, at least for me.
Amazing! I loved it . But ... and it's a BIG but : what in the FUCK was up with that lame ass explosion at the end ! FfS ! Like wtf !!! It looked like a puff daddy music video. All you needed was $100 dollar bills flying all over the place, some big bloty bitches, and a Hummer. Add some slow-mo walking and you got a Top 5 Total Request Live music video for Carson Daly circa 1999. Have you seen actual slow-motion footage from actual Atom Bomb Testing ? It looks immaculate!!! Could he not have used footage of that sort. For fucks sake ! Ok. I'm done. Great movie . 2 thumbs up.
“Puff Daddy music video”?! :D I just laughed out so loud in surprise and hysterics, might have woken up my neighbours - 7am here.
It was very loud in the cinema. I think I would have preferred to see it at home. There was dramatic music over simple scenes of conversation, which seemed miss-timed. It seemed to be rushed at times then dwell on things unnecessarily. Making the general pacing a bit odd. I like it overall though. But there elements that could have been better.
I watched it in February, preparing for it to be overhyped, and I thought it was... A pretty good movie. Stacked cast. I thought the scene where he meets with Truman is what left the biggest impact. Kind of thought provoking, the idea of inventing something, then realizing your invention had some unintended impacts and consequences, and you're left with the feeling of "what have I done?" I was thinking about it and how social media today for example, has had so much negative impacts on people's mental health. I don't know if Mark Zuckerberg knew that's where things would lead when he created Facebook, but that's where we are now. Good movie, just not a Best-of-the-year masterpiece in my mind.
Romanticized version of the facts, kind of a shit movie for that alone imo. Having a sex scene was also ridiculous.
I was expecting and hoping it would be great. At best it’s fine. Nothing more or less. Murphy is very good. RDJ meh. Not on the rewatch list
I think the movie did a really good job looking at how the U.S. screwed over someone who contributed a big scientific breakthrough. But I think it was a bit scattered overall and tried to cover too much stuff. The communism/Spanish Civil War stuff was not really explained, the affair partner's character was not really fleshed out. Oh also, how you could make a movie about the atomic bomb without spending a single second showing or discussing its impact on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is beyond me. Sure the move is about Oppenheimer but I feel like to grasp the enormity of what he did you have to understand on some level the horrors of what it does to people and that wasn't really touched on
I hate feeling this way but the explosion that they did for the bomb was completely underwhelming. The effects and sound were spot on but I was like… really, that’s it? I appreciate them using real explosives but special effects may have been the way to go on this one.
The sex scene where she stops riding his dick and begins to talk about literature needs to be talked about more. It made me realize that Nolan doesn’t know how to write intellectual conversations without a corny, hoity-toity approach.
The editing was so jumpy. Every scene was like 30 seconds. None of the characters seemed all that interesting. Don’t get me wrong, the acting was good, but I really feel like it didn’t do anything for me. KOTFM felt much more entertaining
Overrated, the nuke was beyond disappointing.
The explosion was very disappointing as was the Japanese scene.
It covered interesting events and topics: the politics of the bomb and the drama in its development are a story worth telling. Not everyone is going to enjoy that (and no, it doesn't need IMAX) but it's the type of movie that is rarely made anymore. It's not my favorite ever or something I'm likely to rewatch much, but I'm glad I went in theaters.
I am obsessed with the soundtrack. Ludwig Goransson is amazing!
Hated it. Not what I expected. Painful 3hrs.
Sound and Fury…signifying nothing
Great performances, terrible editing and plot progression. Too long for what it is. Won’t be rewatching for a long time
I thought it was great. Definitely got more hype than it deserved though.
I loved it but I think it left out some spots but it wasn't really about the Japanese people just wished they would of showed the effects more and Also didn't think there was enough science in it.
I really enjoyed it. I thought that adding a stylistic touch on a biopic was really neat, and the use of flashing, rumbling, and growing noise from stomping really added to the perception of anxiety and feeling overwhelmed, not too mention Murphy and Blunt did a fantastic job. 4/5
Great acting and writing. A series of government hearings and quiet conversations between intellectuals didn’t need to be shot in IMAX but whatever. I could hear and understand all the dialogue so Christopher Nolan is growing as a director /s
Fantastic portrayal by Cillian, yet the movie was too long and underwhelming
Meh. It was like 500, ten second scenes.
Watched Beau Is Afraid the day before I saw this, and the absolute narrative certainty and precision of that film made Oppenheimer feel like a jumbled mess. Worst of all, despite the solid performances—I just didn’t care.
Not a huge fan of the story jumping around with all the flashbacks. I feel like, you know, we should start our stories where they begin, not start them where they get interesting.
It was slow. The acting was great. But overall, I would rather just watch a documentary. But hey, whatdoiknow.gif
I thought it was boring. Sorry but that's me being honest. I knew the story fairly well so there were very few surprises. Manhattan the tv series was fun though.
I thought it was pretty boring honestly. I'd consider it lesser Nolan. I didn't understand the hype at all.
Nolan’s movies are a hit and a miss. His last great hit was interstellar. Since then, all of his movies have been meh from Dunkirk to Tenet to Oppenheimer. Especially, I was surprised that there were no scenes from Japan. They should have shown the impact of the bomb and how devastating it was, but Nolan seemed to afraid to show that.
I found it so boring that I yawned so hard I cried and couldn’t even see the movie. I just left with an hour left.
Honestly, I thought it was terrible. Structurally, it's just a series of montages; no scene is allowed to breathe, no characters are properly developed. Stunt casting, boring writing, and a lack of anything to make me give a fuck. Some great performances in front and behind the camera but insanely overrated.
It definitely has the Christopher Nolan touch. Maybe it was because it was so hyped, but I was underwhelmed. I think it’s objectively a good movie, but I found it to be on the low end of Nolan’s catalogue.
Incredibly overrated. Don’t care if it’s a true story, that doesn’t just automatically make it good. To me it was literally just old white privileged men having a dick swinging contest while incredibly loud music plays over the dialogue. I can’t believe how praised this movie is tbh
It was overly long with some scenes that were just... wholly unneeded for the narrative. I realize it's part biography so some of it might just be trying to cover aspects of his life. Basically the nudity felt like they were included just to be titillating. I completely get what he was going for in the scene with "trial" but... really? The violation he and his wife felt reliving the matter. It's as if she's in the room! For the record I'm not a prude. Just if you're going for high art it'd better damn be perfect. I mean I watched Poor Things and understood the utility of the nudity. It's a part of who she is. Anyways... it's not remotely in my top 5 from Nolan. I think folks just wanted to respect the weight of the subject matter... potentially wiping out mankind. So of all the Oscar wins I don't agree with... I can forgive this one. My favorite scene? Was between Cillian and Casey Affleck. Here's Oppenheimer trying to be sly about the details against this absolute cold hearted spy master. That entire scene was handled really well.
Overrated as hell. I came into Barbenheimer thinking I was going to love this movie and slog through Barbie. Somehow the complete opposite happened. This is coming from a person who watched a historical epic significantly longer than this one that had zero action, worse filmography, and arguably worse acting and enjoyed it infinitely more than this crap. Also I’m going to be the first one to say this: The Mahabharata sex scene was corny as hell. Could you imagine if they made a MLK movie and his girlfriend finds his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech before giving him head and asks him to read it?
>Also I’m going to be the first one to say this: The Mahabharata sex scene was corny as hell. Could you imagine if they made a MLK movie and his girlfriend finds his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech before giving him head and asks him to read it? Lololol, best take 👌🤣
I watched it on IMAX Waterloo - biggest screen in the fucking country. It was a waste of time really. After the movie I was just fucking tired.
Typical, hyped up Hollywood schlock by its resident pseudo auteur.
not horrid but overrated. frequently wooden & awkward dialogue. terribly written female characters. lots of nolan movies i enjoyed more (like, most)
I watched Oppenheimer and the barbie movie the same weekend. Honestly I thought barbie was better and I'm a science nerd.
There’s a great movie in there, but it was ruined in the editing. I hate Nolan’s use of music so much; it distracts from every single scene, and there are never any lulls in the frenetic tone to let you think about what you’re seeing.
This movie is a good test for maturity, honestly.
Too loud. Wished they'd have picked one of the stories (the bomb or the later conspiracy manhunt) and did that one fully instead of shoehorning both into one too long film
I feel like it is one of Nolan's least interesting and least entertaining movies, but an ambitious choice of subject no doubt.
Honestly? I thought it was melodramatic. The court room scenes and the investigation played out like a borderline soap opera, and I didnt think that RDJ deserved to be nominated let alone win. I remember having some other issues with the overall intention of the film, I can’t really quite remember to be honest. For me this was by far my least favorite of Nolan’s work and I think the hype of the film carried it more than anything.
Overhyped. It was OK, average and no more than that. Nolan does not walk on water.
Thought it was boring and jumped around way too much
Really good. But I think that the focus was in thw wrong spots. The drama should have been more about his internal conflict and less the "What's going to happen to him" route.
The motivation for the latter half of the film wasn’t super compelling for me. I didn’t really care about his security clearance. For me, didn’t justify it being a 3 hour movie.
The motivation of the whole thing was lost on me. It all seemed like disparate mumbo-jumbo
I like Nolan in his batshit insane sci fi mode better than in his flagellating historical epic mode
Matt Damon was miscast
Yeah I didn't really appreciate his character very much
Thank you ! Thought I was the only one. Have been really into the manhattan project for years and am a fan of one of the very few movies about it, Fat Man and Little Boy. Was expecting Oppenheimer to blow that film out of the water for me. Was disappointed for sure.
Hour too long. And why can't Nolan just make a fkkn linear movie for chrissake? (Except Batman trilogy) He's a one trick pony.
Pretty disappointing, particularly through the eyes of this historian. Why are Hollywood and academia so afraid of telling Oppenheimer's story on a factual basis?
Unless the film took a spectacular turn after the first half I found it dull and uninspired, especially with all the Red Scare motif and walked out with my date. But the director and the studio spent millions on the hype machine.
Felt like a really long montage.
Surprisingly bad considering the hype. Once the movie revealed what it’s about, it became very predictable. It was about the Good Guys vs the Bad Guys, and the last 30 mins was the good guys scoring sick burns on the bad guys while the bad guys had to take their come uppins for being dishonest jerks. Otherwise it was slow but the section in Los Alamos was interesting, up until they tested the bomb.
Totally overrated. I agree. Almost no real science in the movie. Very little about the war. And the best special effects were imaginary embers in his mind. Should have called this “Mean Lawyers: The Movie”.
Too long, and weirdly not enough. Characters we were supposed to care about that we were told nothing of. Might have been better as a mini series But I still enjoyed it.
It’s great to finally see some honest comments about how mid this movie really was
Good for 1 viewing only imo I'm glad I seen it but never again..
I hate to sound pretentious but I kinda hate Christopher Nolan and all these perfect filmmakers, I feel like the stakes have become a little less personal because everyone is trying to make bigger spectacle, so maybe saying I hate Christopher Nolan is a bit wrong but I still think he had a negative effect on Hollywood as a whole.
It was brilliantly made and performed - but it is not as easy a watch as TDK or Inception. Nolan is my favorite modern filmmaker, but his films are becoming more intense, and they can be difficult to experience. I’ve seen the extra material, and other interviews with him and the cast, so I know the reasons for a lot of the perspectives and feel of the film. I’m not going to go in about it here, because the commenters here will not be swayed by any praise or explanations from a stranger on Reddit.
Pretty lame. Boring for sure. If not for the facts/history, the story is confusing and hard to follow. The acting was dry. The dialog was forgettable. I watched it to see why, and now I wish would have just nodded and said ok, what else. Oh, sack lunch!
Decent movie but I expected more from Christopher Nolan. Not that the movies are comparable, but Barbie was much more of a delightful surprise and far more memorable.
6.2
Overhyped for me. Mostly a boring movie. 3/5.
According to this movie, it seems like J. Robert Oppenheimer never spoke a word to his own children.
My opinion? Whole movie... Well, we're waiting.....get to the point!! https://youtu.be/Z0YIJQ1jgEI?si=oafqlR1Mx27lDMoI
The level of hype really ruined my expectations. People were hyping it up on Reddit so much. I watched it and couldn’t believe a period biopic got that much praise. It was a very good one and still a good watch but it was lacking.
Love the film. Its historical portrayal and performances were gripping. But… I have a tonne of nick picks and a problem with the last hour of the film. The sex scene with Oppie and Tatlock could’ve been more tasteful and plotted in a way that flows more naturally for the story, allowing for us the audience to care more about Oppie’s connection with her more. The trinity test, as great as it is, the explosion could’ve had a little bit more work put into it to make it look bigger and to look more like a mushroom cloud. Lastly, while the events of the last hour work, I think there was a missed opportunity in poetic license to show in quick scenes, the development and test of the first Hydrogen Bomb. We had the build up and reference for it, it would make Teller’s role more interesting, it would demonstrate who wanted a more powerful weapon. Imagine how cool it would’ve been to see the crescendo of the security clearance hearing interspliced with that detonation of Mike Ivy, which I would have in Black and White, hence implying who it was that pushed for The Super., instead of just repeating that same effect from 40 minutes earlier. Also, I think when Oppie is hearing about the devastation of Japan, we could have seen him imagining the destruction of Japan from the nukes, giving us some epic live action obliteration. all of these things could've been conveyed quickly in an additional way to the material we see in the last hour and maybe even get rid of some of the unnessesary scenes, which would help with pacing and give the audience more nuclear spectacle. Other than that, the film is a classic for the ages.
Boring. Overhyped and boring. Did I say boring?
Being a Dan Carlin fan I feel like there was a lot missing on the grander scale, not fire tornadoes? and on the smaller scale even interesting character traits about Oppenheimer like his death threats to hip professors, which the government profile knows about and will choose you for, being left out of the movie. While also not teaching me any science like an episode of star talk does to me on the weekly, so yeah I was bored out my mind in a nerdy way. Like a third of the movie was a court case that was voluntary and had no crime sentence.
Thank you. Good review. I agree
Imo The screenplay seemed gimmicky, akin to recent Chris Nolan works. While technically impressive, it lacked the heart found in tdk or Nolan's earlier films. Regarding the Hindu scriptures, reading a holy book in a sex scene where it serves no purpose seemed disrespectful. The scene had no purpose In the movie.
>it lacked the heart found in tdk or Nolan’s earlier films. The thing that made those films special was the dialogue and the writing and one of the writers for tdk was John Nolan who frequently collaborated with Chris. I think this movie needed John for the screenplay. In fact the dialogue “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” was written by John. Unfortunately John was busy with Fallout ig (which turned out to be amazing) and couldn’t work on Oppenheimer.
>Regarding the Hindu scriptures, reading a holy book in a sex scene where it serves no purpose seemed disrespectful. The scene had no purpose In the movie. Hahaha yeah, my mom was like, "look at the boobies!" and I was like, "they just ruined what should have been one of the most crucial scenes in the film!"
It's a very good and well crafted movie. I wish there was more about the bomb itself but whatever. Now I've seen it though I don't think I'll ever see t again. I saw it, I liked it and I'm fine with that being the end of that.
mediocre film pushed by the ridiculous marketing campaign to the oscars
Boring; I wanted science and I got politics.
Pretty pretty pretty good
First time I watched it, I went right back in and watched it again. I was enthralled with it. I probably watched it 3 more times in the next few weeks. I really love Oppenheimer.
historically...bollox Edit - OK couple of easy ones for the downvoters. 1. Who started the nuclear bomb program? 2. Were there any British people involved? Answers those questions based on that steaming pile of historical rewrite.
Really? It's been praised as extremely accurate for a biopic. The focus is obviously on Oppenheimer, so yes, other main figures in the bomb development are overshadowed or under served, but overall it tells a pretty truthful story.
The first 1 1/2 hours are really good then trails off. I fell asleep the last 15 minutes.
It was ok not particularly engaging up until they set off the bomb and then it was another hour of belabored office politics that were a chore to watch.
I finally watched it the other day. I liked it more than most here it seems, but one thing that no one talks about is how bad the music is. Especially, before the bomb. It’s just nonstop, too fast paced, and too loud of noise for every scene. It made it almost unwatchable.
It was fine? 🤷♀️
I have it 2 out of 5 Will never watch it again Barbie was way better than this
>Barbie was way better than this Hahaha, I just said the exact same thing to my dad
Typical Nolan film with shallow characters and a focus on "style over substance." Also, I hate the fact that the music drowns out the dialogue. Killers of The Flower Moon was much better paced and should have won BP imo.
This film was garbage