Oppenheimer - 2023 Christopher Nolan & Cillian Murphy (birth of the Atom Bomb).

ianh said:
Sadly the fact people still don't realise that this is a character study of one individual is a failing of the advertising/PR around the film and not of the people who watched a different film to the one they expected and I wonder if that is yet another reason for the more muted public reaction to this film.
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It's probably not really a failing, I'd imagine it'd be intentional to get bums on seats. The critics will make of it what they will..

We watched the Sky doc - 'To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb' which was really interesting. Clearly made to complement the film, but goes into a bit more detail into some aspects which are very interesting. Like his conversation with Truman, actually explained how offended Truman would have been by the comment that he's got blood on his hands, which is fair enough.
 
Caught this on 70mm on Monday. Parkway Cinema Barnsley. Guy came on and did a little speech before saying this was the only current showing outside of London on 70mm. Very impressed by the quality and the film.
 
Finally got around to watching this today, wasn't in Imax but apart from the few explosions I don't think it needed a Imax viewing especially with towards the end it went into 'classic' Nolan where the soundtrack was getting louder than the dialogue.

For a character study film I enjoyed it and with a 3 hour run time it didn't drag at all for me.

Not knowing much about the man himself seeing the Strauss stuff in the final act really put things into perspective.
 
I went to see this last night and paid extra for iSense, but I didn't see much benefit, to be honest (yes, I know it's not IMAX!).

Good film overall. I'm glad I watched it in the cinema, as I doubt I could concentrate on this for 3 hours at home, to be honest.

(I can't say I would watch it again), but it's a solid 8/10.
 
VincentHanna said:
3 hours and I still didn't get much of an idea about the man. Visually it's not even that interesting, so it felt like shelling out £24 a ticket for the BFI IMAX was a bit of a waste of money considering I could have seen it 'free' at my local Odeon with my limitless card.

There really are just lots of shots of men in smallish rooms talking. The women in his life were almost completely glossed over, though Emily Blunt does get one small moment to shine towards the end of the movie.

No bad performances or anything, just not that much of interest happening. At the halfway point I knew I would probably never watch it again.

Nolan's worst movie other than Tenat. And I might even consider watching that again to see if it can ever make much sense.

I don't really get the point of it, it's not anywhere near as clever as it wants to be, and it's a very tepid attempt to confront the morality of it all, seemingly with Nolan's thoughts on the matter put right at the end (Nuclear weapons bad)

It doesn't show a single frame of the damage done in Japan, I know it was mainly focused on the man, and we got to see him react to some of the damage he had done (real or imagined) but it could have added a little bit of emotion into it, cause there's little to no e anywhere else.

It ends up being a court room drama between two people you don't care about, with very little at stake.

6/10.
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With that write up surely you should be giving it 3 or 4 out of 10?

For me it's an 8.5 or 9, I feel sorry you didn't get much out of it.

He obviously wasn't the most emotionally outward man, but to say you didn't get much of an idea of him, I find a very strange take. I think it was said above, but for me it's one of the most convincing character performances I've ever seen, to the point that it felt documentary like. Which is an amazing feat of acting, writing and editing.

For me the pacing of the film felt quite unconventional, obviously the timeline switches kept you on your toes, but there was no clear beginning middle or end, just a continuous flow of drama, tension and emotional strife which, for me was beautifully interwoven. The first half felt quite challenging to follow and piece together, but it almost became easier to digest as the film went on, and I didn't feel like the 3 hours dragged at all.

The trinity scene was phenomenal, the visuals, music, editing were so impactful.

I would say the writing was incredible too, so many thought provoking lines - Oppenheimer's assertion that he thought the bomb could put a stop to future wars as a show of force vs. the realisation that even though the bomb might not cause the end of the world directly through an unstoppable explostion, it may have irreversibly shaped the world for the worse going forward.

I feel like it's a film where it's hard to say why it's so good, but I think you could say that all of the tools of cinema are used to tackle a massive subject matter, and make it immensely enjoyable.
 
It's made over $715 million so far which, off a $100m budget, is fantastic. I'd say that around $300m was needed to break even with marketing and cinema cut etc.

www.the-numbers.com

Oppenheimer (2023) - Financial Information

Financial analysis of Oppenheimer (2023) including budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports, total earnings and profitability.
www.the-numbers.com www.the-numbers.com
 
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It's a great movie so glad it's been this successful.

In hindsight my only complaint would be scenes with his partner which didn't really work for me, or add much to the movie. Maybe trying to overcompensate for the some criticisms in his other movies when it comes to relationships and emotional scenes. Sadly they came across as robotic, and not how you would expect a couple to interact at all, not sure if that was intentional or not tbh.
 
Saw this tonight, last chance at IMAX Trafford centre! I thought it was excellent, the usual Nolan drone at times aside it was really well done. Murphy was also excellent.
 
It's probably unlikely to hit $1B but its still making over $10m a week in the US plus there international sales too. However, whilst it's at $777m worldwide right now and it should pass $850m eventually, I think it'll struggle to pass $925m but it's great that the success of this may open the doors to more cerebral films (or character studies) is exciting for me.
 
Went with my Laddie to see this tonight and despite it having been out for several weeks already the cinema was quite busy, easily 50 odd people.

It was very much a character piece, far from anything more recent of Nolan's. It was a bit meandering here and there but it covered all the bases of the man himself. It's like when I went to see Joker. I'm glad I did, and it wasn't a bad film, but I'm unsure that I ever want to see it again. 4 neutrons out of 5.
 
MissChief said:
Went with my Laddie to see this tonight and despite it having been out for several weeks already the cinema was quite busy, easily 50 odd people.

It was very much a character piece, far from anything more recent of Nolan's. It was a bit meandering here and there but it covered all the bases of the man himself. It's like when I went to see Joker. I'm glad I did, and it wasn't a bad film, but I'm unsure that I ever want to see it again. 4 neutrons out of 5.
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It was national cinema day with reduced ticket prices, we paid £3.90 for recliner seats (Oppenheimer also), that's why it was so busy..
 
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