The expectations that go into a Nolan film have obviously affected the end product of most of his more recent efforts, so much so that the great potential story of one of the most significant technological events in history becomes poorly told.
From a historical perspective, so many significant events from the development of atomic weapons are left out, such as Heisenberg (Germany) almost killing himself during his own experiments, the exodus of great scientists to the US preceding the Nazi uprising, the Demon Core incidents after the War, and the celebrity status Oppenheimer achieved after the War. Zero historical footage is used in this film, which is worse for it as so much amazing stuff could be repurposed here. We aren't even allowed to feel anything about the atrocities of Germany, Japan, or the USSR at the time. In fact, a key reason Truman wanted to end the war with the bomb quickly was to keep the Soviets from making a mess of post-war Japan by claiming lands by invasion, which would have led to a partly communist Japan to this day.
From a science perspective, little is told about the development of the bombs themselves, including the obstacles the scientists really faced and the achievements they made. No mention of the idea that the technology could also be used to save the world (nuclear power), being reason enough to push forward with the research, aside from keeping it out of Germany's hands, which was a real concern of the government.
As such, this isn't a documentary. Not at all. Any of the aforementioned stuff would have made for a brilliant Nolan film...but I don't see him capable of makes a film with real science and history.
Neither is it a character study, as the biopic title suggests. Rather it's a vehicle for Nolan to edit together trailer-type cuts across changing timelines for 3 hours. I found it tiresome and frenetic. While the acting is good, none of it makes us feel anything for the characters. While there was an opportunity to work on the morality angle for Oppenheimer, which was very much what the real man was about, the film glosses over this to focus only on the politics of the time, where the McCarthy era witch-hunts ended Oppenheimer's career as a quantum physicist. Even then, Nolan misses an opportunity to vilify those actions by the government, making no real statements there.
The result of the 3 hours is the simple message that the genie cannot be put back in the bottle, and in Oppenheimer's mind, would end in our destruction.
That said, all the high grades for this film come from Nolan fanboys, who write pretentious reviews for pretentious films.
From a historical perspective, so many significant events from the development of atomic weapons are left out, such as Heisenberg (Germany) almost killing himself during his own experiments, the exodus of great scientists to the US preceding the Nazi uprising, the Demon Core incidents after the War, and the celebrity status Oppenheimer achieved after the War. Zero historical footage is used in this film, which is worse for it as so much amazing stuff could be repurposed here. We aren't even allowed to feel anything about the atrocities of Germany, Japan, or the USSR at the time. In fact, a key reason Truman wanted to end the war with the bomb quickly was to keep the Soviets from making a mess of post-war Japan by claiming lands by invasion, which would have led to a partly communist Japan to this day.
From a science perspective, little is told about the development of the bombs themselves, including the obstacles the scientists really faced and the achievements they made. No mention of the idea that the technology could also be used to save the world (nuclear power), being reason enough to push forward with the research, aside from keeping it out of Germany's hands, which was a real concern of the government.
As such, this isn't a documentary. Not at all. Any of the aforementioned stuff would have made for a brilliant Nolan film...but I don't see him capable of makes a film with real science and history.
Neither is it a character study, as the biopic title suggests. Rather it's a vehicle for Nolan to edit together trailer-type cuts across changing timelines for 3 hours. I found it tiresome and frenetic. While the acting is good, none of it makes us feel anything for the characters. While there was an opportunity to work on the morality angle for Oppenheimer, which was very much what the real man was about, the film glosses over this to focus only on the politics of the time, where the McCarthy era witch-hunts ended Oppenheimer's career as a quantum physicist. Even then, Nolan misses an opportunity to vilify those actions by the government, making no real statements there.
The result of the 3 hours is the simple message that the genie cannot be put back in the bottle, and in Oppenheimer's mind, would end in our destruction.
That said, all the high grades for this film come from Nolan fanboys, who write pretentious reviews for pretentious films.
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