I don't think it's Nolan's best film, as some have suggested, but weirdly enough - being an R-rated three-hour film, part black-and-white courtroom-style drama, part dialog-heavy biopic - it may be one of his more accessible stories. It's not a high-concept, mind-bending sci-fi film that outgrows a lot of people's patience, it's not a comic-book film which for a lot of people is still a silly and uninteresting genre. It's not even so much about the atomic bomb and the war itself, which again may put some people off. It's about a real person who was instrumental in the making of a game-changing weapon, and how he had to deal with the fallout of this invention amidst a battle for narrative and control. It's a very grounded and personal story that seems easier to relate to than many of Nolan's previous works. There still is his obligatory non-linear way of telling the story, but it's more streamlined here than even in Dunkirk.
Having said that, I found the first half of the film fairly hard to get into. It moves so fast, skipping all kinds of beats - especially in the student years - the and hardly ever slows down despite not a lot happening on screen plot-wise. It's absolutely doing the groundwork for the second half and maneuvering characters and story elements into position, but instead of a natural part of the story, much of it felt like a recap montage edited to get viewers caught up in a heavily cut-down version of the story in order to not have to spend any more of the already considerable running time to go through everything thoroughly. I felt like yelling "Chris! BREATHE!" at the screen more times than I cared to count, as many scenes seemed like they should have gotten more time and buildup to really communicate their weight, but felt rushed through and quickly moved on from. For parts of this half, the race against the enemies to create the weapon before they do and the horror of what might happen if they get there first could have provided a good reason for this restlessness, but this was reduced to a few brief mentions and not nearly explored as much as it could and probably should have been. The second half, however, redeemed almost all of that. The Trinity test scene, which really kicks off this second half, is absolutely phenomenal and effortlessly goes from extreme suspense to just pure awe. It feels like both the acting and the creativity in using image and sound in interesting ways are shifting into a higher gear at that point - not that any of it was anywhere near bad in the beginning, but it's the second half where the standout scenes happen for all of them. The victory speech and Kitty's interview are some that spring to mind. And as the trajectory and focus of the movie become clearer, the pace seems to find its stride as well.
While I ultimately thought the portrait of Oppie's personal life wasn't as focused as it should have been, and the story behind the hearings got a little too convoluted, I found the visuals and sound design to be very impressive and I loved the score, even if it can sound like Tenet leftovers here and there. There's even some good humor to be found despite the subject matter, and while just about everyone and their mother being part of the cast may sound distracting, the performances are great across the board and apart from maybe one exception it all came together nicely and seamlessly. I'm sure the first half will work much better on repeat viewings, but maybe the pacing would have worked out better if Nolan had chosen a Chernobyl-style miniseries format and strong-armed Universal to release it theatrically. As it stands, I think it's a very good film with a lot of excellence in it that's somewhat hampered by an unusually rocky first half. It's not Nolan's best overall film, but it still might contain some of his best work and deserves to be seen with the best picture and sound setup possible.
Review by ObiJanBlockedParent2024-04-03T21:55:34Z
I don't think it's Nolan's best film, as some have suggested, but weirdly enough - being an R-rated three-hour film, part black-and-white courtroom-style drama, part dialog-heavy biopic - it may be one of his more accessible stories. It's not a high-concept, mind-bending sci-fi film that outgrows a lot of people's patience, it's not a comic-book film which for a lot of people is still a silly and uninteresting genre. It's not even so much about the atomic bomb and the war itself, which again may put some people off. It's about a real person who was instrumental in the making of a game-changing weapon, and how he had to deal with the fallout of this invention amidst a battle for narrative and control. It's a very grounded and personal story that seems easier to relate to than many of Nolan's previous works. There still is his obligatory non-linear way of telling the story, but it's more streamlined here than even in Dunkirk.
Having said that, I found the first half of the film fairly hard to get into. It moves so fast, skipping all kinds of beats - especially in the student years - the and hardly ever slows down despite not a lot happening on screen plot-wise. It's absolutely doing the groundwork for the second half and maneuvering characters and story elements into position, but instead of a natural part of the story, much of it felt like a recap montage edited to get viewers caught up in a heavily cut-down version of the story in order to not have to spend any more of the already considerable running time to go through everything thoroughly. I felt like yelling "Chris! BREATHE!" at the screen more times than I cared to count, as many scenes seemed like they should have gotten more time and buildup to really communicate their weight, but felt rushed through and quickly moved on from. For parts of this half, the race against the enemies to create the weapon before they do and the horror of what might happen if they get there first could have provided a good reason for this restlessness, but this was reduced to a few brief mentions and not nearly explored as much as it could and probably should have been.
The second half, however, redeemed almost all of that. The Trinity test scene, which really kicks off this second half, is absolutely phenomenal and effortlessly goes from extreme suspense to just pure awe. It feels like both the acting and the creativity in using image and sound in interesting ways are shifting into a higher gear at that point - not that any of it was anywhere near bad in the beginning, but it's the second half where the standout scenes happen for all of them. The victory speech and Kitty's interview are some that spring to mind. And as the trajectory and focus of the movie become clearer, the pace seems to find its stride as well.
While I ultimately thought the portrait of Oppie's personal life wasn't as focused as it should have been, and the story behind the hearings got a little too convoluted, I found the visuals and sound design to be very impressive and I loved the score, even if it can sound like Tenet leftovers here and there. There's even some good humor to be found despite the subject matter, and while just about everyone and their mother being part of the cast may sound distracting, the performances are great across the board and apart from maybe one exception it all came together nicely and seamlessly.
I'm sure the first half will work much better on repeat viewings, but maybe the pacing would have worked out better if Nolan had chosen a Chernobyl-style miniseries format and strong-armed Universal to release it theatrically. As it stands, I think it's a very good film with a lot of excellence in it that's somewhat hampered by an unusually rocky first half. It's not Nolan's best overall film, but it still might contain some of his best work and deserves to be seen with the best picture and sound setup possible.