re: Oppenheimer | Official Reaction Thread | Spoilers

Wow.

I guess I avoided spoilers better than I thought, as I had no clue how many stars were in this movie.


This wasn't what I was expecting, but even so, impressive. Not sure if I love it or just really like it. There's a lot there to take in.

Still processing.

Completely agree

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The film postulates that it was Strauss's insecurities that brought him and Oppenheimer to blows. You can see just how insecure in his position Nolan makes him out to be when he reveals to Oppenheimer his backstory when they first meet. He started out as a shoe salesmen to which Oppenheimer says disbelievingly: "Lewis Strauss was once a lowly shoe salesmen?" To which Strauss replies, somewhat resentfully, "No, just a shoe salesmen."

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One thing the movie neglects is that Oppenheimer and Strauss were both wealthy men who came from privileged backgrounds and both were probably uncomfortable with that fact and tried to compensate politically.

Oppenheimer inherited millions of dollars when his father died in the 30s as well as an extensive art collection that included multiple Van Goghs, a Rembrandt and a blue period Picasso. He lived a lavish lifestyle despite his communist sympathies. That's one of the reasons he was chosen to lead the project - it was thought that some of the scientists might be reluctant to abdicate their jobs and livelihoods only later to be regarded as mass murderers. They knew Oppenheimer had "F-U" money and didn't have to worry about compensation or his professional reputation - he could dive head first into the science and others would follow.

I think Nolan was kind of winking at the audience during that scene where they make introductions and talk about themselves - Strauss a shoe salesman and Oppenheimer the son of a common worker. In reality it would be more like Phil Knight telling Donald Trump he used to be a shoe salesman and Trump replying that his father was a construction worker.

Another thing they got wrong about Strauss was that he was staunchly Jewish and resented Oppenheimer for being a secular Jew that used his religion whenever it benefitted him but discarded it when it didn't. Strauss was very active in Jewish causes. Again Nolan sort of makes brief, vague allusions to this. Such as when another scientist notes that Oppenheimer reads Greek, Sanskrit, etc. but not Hebrew.

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You probably saw it in Xenon.

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Are there even any more arc projectors?

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It’s a well done film, but I thought the politics dragged. I was more interested in the science and details that went into the construction of the bomb.

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Did anyone go into this movie wanting to see dirty Washington politics and an administrative clearance hearing?

Not even mentioning the scientists who died during development at Los Alamos in 45 and 46 is insulting. Kennedy even got a shoutout for God’s sake.

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Did anyone go into this movie wanting to see dirty Washington politics and an administrative clearance hearing? Not even mentioning the scientists who died during development at Los Alamos in 45 and 46 is insulting. Kennedy even got a shoutout for God’s sake.

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I’m with you.

This movie was a wasted opportunity

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Probably because the film is a character study of Oppenheimer and not an in-depth look at the goings on at Los Alamos.

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That seems to be the huge issue a lot of people have. They wanted a Los Alamos movie.....but this was a movie about J Robert Oppenheimer.

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Kennedy even got a shoutout for God’s sake.

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And it was a terrible shoutout lmao. Movie pretended like JFK was some young upstart that nobody had heard of dude was literally president 1.5 years later

I give it a 9/10. The visuals, the scoring, and the acting were all incredible. As a huge Cillian Murphy fan, i’m happy to see he finally got a lead role in a huge blockbuster film. He’s now on the Dicaprio/Pitt level of superstar IMO. Cillian seems to be one of the few genuinely good people in the acting world, and he’s just simply incredible.

Imagine this movie 30-45 minutes shorter.