Review: Oppenheimer

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

It is astounding - and also encouraging - that one of the two movies capturing the public's imagination at the moment (the other, of course, is "Barbie," another film about existential angst) is a three-hour art film with a blockbuster-sized budget that primarily features people sitting in rooms debating science, taking part in bureaucratic investigations, or weighing the advancement of science with becoming "death, the destroyer of worlds," as Robert J. Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), quoting Hindu scripture, puts it. 

While the summer's sequels, comic book adaptations, and other typical go-to movies for the season have been flailing, Christopher Nolan's ambitious opus "Oppenheimer" (along with Greta Gerwig's offbeat "Barbie," a movie that is miraculous if for no other reason than it got made at all) appears to be signaling that audiences are hungry for something more. If the summer movie season's two saviors end up being, for lack of a better phrase, thinking persons' movies, then I'm all for it.

Making "Oppenheimer" must have been daunting. Even writing about it is. The film eschews the typical biopic tropes - although we do get a little bit of Oppy's school days, complete with an attempted poisoned apple incident - and much of the characterization of the brilliant scientist is left to Murphy's expressive face to do the heavy lifting. If Oppenheimer comes off as a bit of a cypher, this is seemingly an intentional tactic.

As I'd mentioned, this is a film about ideas - many of them, in fact, and most of which are fascinating. "Oppenheimer" explores the gulf between scientists' work and the influence (or lack thereof) they have on how it is put into practice, but also about the social responsibility of invention and whether the ability to create something should necessarily result in its being brought into actuality (something those working in A.I. these days should ponder).

There are no less than three framing devices in this gargantuan picture - one involving a secretive conversation between Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein that reminded me of Scarlett Johansson whispering into Bill Murray's ear at the end of "Lost in Translation"; an investigation years after the creation of the atomic bomb that is mostly carried out in a drab room to determine whether Oppenheimer will get to keep his security clearance after his enemies have set into motion accusations about his left-wing past; and a confirmation hearing for a cabinet position in the Eisenhower administration for Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a senior U.S. Atomic Energy Commission member who held a grudge against Oppenheimer for humiliating him years before and who acts as the Salieri to Oppenheimer's Mozart.

Much of the film is spent in rooms in which Oppenheimer and his team discuss plans for the atomic bomb and the creation of their workspace in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where they'll ultimately test it. Oppenheimer is managed by a military man named Groves (Matt Damon), who is wary of Oppenheimer's past but inherently trusts his duty toward his country. The scientists who make their way into Oppenheimer's orbit include Edward Teller (Benny Safdie), who wants to focus on a hydrogen bomb, which is not favored by Oppenheimer; Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett), a friend who is uncomfortable with Oppenheimer's brief brushes with communism in the past; close friend Isidor Isaac Rabi (David Krumholtz); and Danish physicist Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh).

The film is loaded with excellent supporting turns - including Florence Pugh as Oppenheimer's lover, Matthew Modine as engineer Vannevar Bush, Casey Affleck as a creepy military man who is interested in weeding out communists in the scientific community, Alden Ehrenreich as a senate aide to Strauss who gets in the film's best quip, and Jason Clarke as Robert Robb, who led the inquiry into whether Oppenheimer should keep his security clearance.

Naturally, this film is Murphy's show. He's in most of the film's scenes and his performance is sure to be one of the year's best. Damon is excellent as Groves, Krumholtz gives a terrific supporting turn, and Downey Jr. gives his most memorable performance in years as the slippery Strauss. The film's scene stealer is Emily Blunt, portraying Oppenheimer's wife, who has a particularly memorable scene when she goes head to head with Robb.

For a movie this long and ambitious, there are a few choices that didn't particularly work - notably, one in which Gary Oldman portrays President Harry Truman as a bit of a dunce and a jerk. However, I disagree with complaints that the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima should have been portrayed. In fact, the film handles this somewhat brilliantly. I think the idea is that the scientists working on the bomb are cloistered and somewhat removed from the real-world impact of the bombing of Japan. The decision to not show this reflects this - but also, there's a powerful scene in which Oppenheimer addresses a room full of people after the dropping of the bombs, and he tries to talk tough about it, all the while envisioning what the room full of people would look like had the bomb been dropped there. He tries to convince himself of the righteousness of the cause, but is obviously unconvinced.

To fully capture the entire three-hour experience of "Oppenheimer" - from its fascinating detail-oriented behind the scenes of the creation of the bomb to the apocalyptic waking dream of its lead character in the powerful finale - in a review is likely a fool's errand. Suffice it to say that this film is an example of a major artist being well funded to create an ambitious work of art and finding great success in the venture. "Oppenheimer" is one of the year's best and is a truly unforgettable experience.