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“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” recited physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he witnessed the first detonation of the atomic bomb on July 16, 1945. Rotten Tomatoes gives Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of this event a 93% fresh rating.
The motion picture details the appointment of Oppenheimer by Lieutenant General Leslie Groves to work on the Manhattan Project during World War Two. The physicist and his team spend years creating and reforming the atomic bomb, the first nuclear weapon used in war. As a result of this, the director indicates the importance of the film as he believes that “if [his] worst fears are true, he’ll be the man who destroyed the world. Who’s more important than that?”
Oppenheimer was released on July 21 of this year with much anticipation. As a result of this anticipation, the film surpassed its 100 million dollar budget by grossing over 890 million dollars, as of September 11. But, this is nothing new for Nolan. For example, his third Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, made over one billion dollars.
Part of the reason for the film’s success can be accredited to the incorporation of “an all-star cast” as stated in Forbes. Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, Florence Pugh is Jean Tatlock, and Robert Downey Jr. takes on the role of Lewis Strauss. Other cast members include Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, and Gary Oldman.
The three-hour-long movie blew to large proportions when the world announced that Nolan’s film would be released on the same day as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Instead of pitting the films against each other, social media embraced this coincidence and introduced the cultural phenomenon, “Barbenheimer.” This concept accents the extreme contrast between an intense historical drama such as Oppenheimer, and a bubbly, pink comedy like Barbie, which easily became the rivalry of the summer.
Senior Roger Carey said that his favorite scene was “when they ignite the bomb and it’s just quiet while it explodes.” The Daily Beast records that “Nolan envisions it in heightened contrasts: loud and noiseless; swift and patient; exhilarating and dismaying; close-up and panoramic; and triumphant and tragic.”
Carey felt that the three-hour movie did feature some “boring parts, especially about politics.”
The senior reaffirms his approval, saying that he thinks “the creator of the atomic bomb would be pleased by the film’s portrayal of him, because it is not one-sided and encompasses his feelings.”