The Best Movie of the Decade So Far?

“They won’t fear it until they understand it. And they won’t understand it until they’ve used it. Theory will take you only so far.”

I know there are some amazing pieces of dialogue throughout this film, but this quote struck me the hardest. It was relevant then. It was relevant before that time. It is relevant now.

From that first scene where we see the rain hit the puddle and ripples are everywhere in the puddle, to the last scene in the film where those ripples have now become nuclear explosions. Those drops of rain represent so much more than a full circle moment. It represents the commonality—the normalcy of the word “nuclear”.

This is Nolan’s best film and I believe that will be an objective statement by the end of this year. It might not be your favorite of his, but it’s his best. Just like Tarantino’s best is ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’.

If you are one of the few who doesn’t know what film I’m talking about—I’m talking about ‘Oppenheimer’.

I love this film and I will be watching again. I know I missed so much, but I was stuck to my chair like glue. I promise you I did not move an inch during that whole 3-hour runtime. Only my arm moved to feed my mouth more popcorn. I was floored… everyone and their momma was in this movie! I believe I counted like at least 11 career-best performances.

I am not gonna tell you who I think was the best, aside from the obvious choice, Cillian Murphy. Just kidding… Benny Safdie, Jason Clarke, and lowkey Josh Harnett really hit it out of the park.

Don’t get me wrong RDJ was at his best since probably the first ‘Iron Man’/’Tropic Thunder’, but for me he was still his snarky, self-centered self. That’s not a knock on him at all, but it was nothing crazy to me.

I wanted more Florence Pugh. She was, as Julia Fox would say, Oppenheimer’s muse. Emily Blunt had that one scene where I was like OKAY GIRL! Aside from that she was solid.

Matt Damon was great as always. He is the Tim Duncan of Hollywood, I will not elaborate on that. IYKYK.

The reason why I say Benny Safdie was one of the best is because each time he was saying something I was like I just want more! Like Nolan I know you have an hour’s worth of him and Cillian sitting and talking for their weekly convo about the H-Bomb release it!

Then Jason Clarke just playing a STRAIGHT ASSHOLE for his entire screentime, I mean he was bringing out the best from Cillian and Emily. Like GAH DAMN my boy, I never want to be in the same room as him.

Then lastly, Josh Harnett. I mean he’s been gone really for basically the last decade of cinema. Last year was Brendan Fraser, this year its Josh. He’s him. I mean his presence on screen was huge. He did amazing with not just delivering his lines, but his facial expressions & body language were just as impactful.

Next, I want to talk about the production. I mean this film cost only $100 million. With all the A-list actors, practical EVERYTHING, and the big scale production it easily feels like it could be $300 million. I mean ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Secret Invasion’, and ‘The Flash’ were all over $200 million—they all look like shit, respectively to ‘Indiana Jones’, because for the most part it looks solid with the VFX.

Also, none of those broke even. They lost the studios money, a lot of money.

ANYWAYS…

MAKE MORE ORIGINAL NON-IP MOVIES!!!!

Next, I want to talk about the writing. This is Christopher Nolan’s BEST writing and by A LOT. I’m not going to lie some of Nolan’s dialogue is WHACK. You see it twice in here. It’s like he couldn’t help himself. I’m not just saying this for all of 4 people to click and read this, but genuinely ‘The Dark Knight’ has some very bad dialogue. I will not be elaborating on this. That is for another time. But here… Nolan was literally writing a play. All these scenes of back and forth were so fucking intense and exhilarating! For me my favorite part of the movie is that last act. The last hour was fucking bonkers. That was some Aaron Sorkin type shit.

The build up to the trinity test was deafening. The countdown… the realization that the countdown was just all the people slamming their feet in the stands makes it even more jaw-dropping. I can’t imagine even being Oppenheimer. I am so glad I am stupid and not smart. The burden, the anxiety, the rain cloud looming over his head for the rest of his life and I’m sure in eternity is excruciating. We see that from the first scene when he was at school in Cambridge. It’s almost as if he always knew something we didn’t. That’s why that line from Kenneth Branagh about having to hear and feel the science as if it were like music is so good.

Which leads me to my next point… Ludwig scored himself the Oscar for best score. Absolutely breathtaking. Those violins for being so small brought so much fear and legitimate horror to the film. It was such a unique score.

However,

This film is NOT perfect. I have some issues with it. First, some little things—Florence as Jean wasn’t wasted, but I’m not entirely sure what her purpose was in the movie? Nonetheless Florence was funny and wonderful. Next, going back to that one line that seemed so forced… the line referencing JFK. Like that was so forced and headass LMFAO. His next film is about to be about JFK! Like I said these are little things and nothing crazy. This last one is a bigger one and what ultimately brings my score down.

The first act or first 30-40 minutes is a structural mess. Oh my gosh… We hit like 4 or 6 different years within that time, and I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on. I know Nolan’s thing about time is that it’s like all simultaneously going on at once, but it threw me off. After the first 30-40 minutes though it’s a perfect movie.

I mean that last scene with Oppenheimer and good ol Albert Einstein is legitimately daunting. Like “Hey Albert! We were right! It did set off this chain reaction… just not the type of chain reaction we were thinking!”

I genuinely did love this film. I’ve been seeing people all over talking about it being the best of the decade and probably will stay like that. I, however, will not say that. I’m not sure if it will be. It will definitely be in the discussion, but right now I don’t think it is.

Next, I will review ‘Ken’… I mean ‘Barbie’. For those of you wondering I did watch ‘Barbie’ first, then ‘Oppenheimer’.

To close it out; I am so happy these films KILLED it and BEAT expectations. We needed this. I hope it continues. With the SAG & WGA strikes going on I hope these studio execs pay their people what they are deserved. If not… we won’t get movies like these anymore.

‘Oppenheimer’ is an 89/100 for me. This will probably change after a rewatch.