Oppenheimer

Films that are based on biographical, historical facts are often fraught with being heavy-laden in order to accomplish its impact and story. "The Finest Hour", "Inherit the Wind", "Judgment at Nuremberg", "Schinder's List" all come to mind when it comes to telling these, often, horrendous stories. So, when "Oppenheimer" was being advertised, I knew that, not only would it be monumentous, but also heavy-laden as well.

During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. (Matt Damon) appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists, including Dr. Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett), Edward Teller (Benny Safdie), Hans Bethe (Gustaf Skarsgard), William Borden (David Dastmalchian) and others, spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world's first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history. Unfortunately, as Oppenheimer was a Communist sympathizer, there were several key people, mostly in the political realm that were attempting to railroad him and his being privy to such a top-secret entity. 

Others to round out the cast are Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, Robert's wife, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, Michael Angarano as Robert Serber, Jason Clark as Roger Robb, Alden Ehrenreich as Senate Aide, Kurt Koehler as Thomas Morgan, Rami Malek as David Hill, Casey Affleck as Boris Pash, Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush, Dylan Arnold as Frank Oppenheimer, Robert's brother and Tom Conti as Albert Einstein.

This was brilliantly directed  with clear delineation by Christopher Nolan ("Following" '98, "Memento" 2000, "Insomnia" '02, "Batman Begins" '05, "The Prestige" '06, "The Dark Knight" '08, "Inception" '10, "The Dark Knight Rises" '12, "Interstellar" '14, "Dunkirk" '17, "Tenet" '20) plus shorts and a video. Considering the length of time this filmmaker has been in the director's chair, he hasn't produced a plethora of films, but all of them have been well crafted films knowing what it takes to encourage his actors to dig deep in finding that character they will be attempting to convince the audience that who they see is that character and not just an actor. He truly gives his actors an incredible amount of autonomy so as to make the character development much more real. It was also incredibly well penned by writer Christopher Nolan (See above resume plus "Man of Steel" (story) '13) plus shorts and videos, based on the book by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. I must say that the use of black and white film and color was interesting and unique in that the color basically represented a story be told at the Senate hearing, and once it came back to the hearing, it was then edited as a black and white format. It was sequenced, paced and staged with perfection by an incredibly seasoned, consummate pro as Nolan clearly is. His casting, especially that of Murphy, Downey Jr., Hartnett and Blunt were amazingly effective. Nolan has mentioned in the past that he would like to direct and write a remake of his film "Memento" 2000 and I hope he eventually does, because it has such an intriguing plot and happens to be one of my favorite film of his. This was shot in Super 70 Panavision and IMAX, and apparently only plays in certain theaters across the country. So if you can catch this in one of those places, I would highly recommend it. 

If you are a fan of Nolan's work, like I am, this is quintessential Nolan, therefore you will love it. It has it all: great directing, writing, acting, photography, action and suspense all rolled up in one explosive movie--pun intended.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                                Rated: R                                             180mins.