Tis Me Michelle

Do I love Christopher Nolan movies… Or do I just really like The Dark Knight series?! I ask myself this often. There was so much hype around Oppenheimer for what felt like years. And I was ready for my next favorite Christopher Nolan movie. Aside from The Dark Knight series, I did really like Inception, but that came out between the Batman movies and had a great cast, so I was starting to wonder if it was all a fluke. Because I’d tried watching pretty much all his other movies and they just weren’t landing with me, even though some of them are critically acclaimed and beloved. Oppenheimer had a huge draw for me though… Cillian Murphy as the lead and Matt Damon as a strong supporting character, those are 2 of my ultimate actors//white man Hollywood crushes. The only way it could have been better is if they snuck Tom Hardy in this movie.

Also, I totally did have a Barbenheimer movie day. These movies coming out at the same time made it fun to go to the movies again. It had been a while since I was that excited to go to the theater.

Anyway, I went in optimistic, but not with super high hopes. I didn’t want to be let down. And I wasn’t. All the main actors were fantastic. I love that this movie gave Cillian his time to shine. He is a great leading man for anyone who has been living under a rock and has not seen Peaky Blinders. There is no doubt he totally embodied this role and gave a fantastic performance. And we’ve been knowing Matt Damon is great and his character brought some humor to the movie. As much as his character is not well-liked, and I believe meant to be a hard-ass, he just brought his Matt Damon-ness to the role and it was brilliant.

One of my biggest gripes with movies is length. 1.5-2.5 hours is a good happy medium to work with. Once it pushes 2.5, I’m pushing my ability to stay present. This movie sits at exactly three hours. I don’t think it was necessary. In my (have no business) opinion, if the movie needs 3+ hours, start thinking about making it a mini-series. Maybe there is so much more you can dive into and fully flesh out, instead of trying to “condense” it into a movie. Yes, I can binge a ridiculous amount of TV… But I can also stop after each 20 to 45-minute episode if I need a break.

Back to the actual movie. This is definitely joining the list of Nolan movies I like, which as you can tell from earlier is a shorter list than I wished. Aside from the length, I thought everyone in it was fantastic, the direction and cinematography was top-tier. If we take the movie as a stand-alone movie (story), I think it was very well done.

I am a fan of biopics. I find that I learn more about history in movie or television format, it’s more interesting and engaging. But also not always the most reliable or accurate. So there is that. The reason why I don’t love this movie is the same reason why I don’t love Wolf of Wall Street. Another amazing movie, if you take the reality of it. The truth of the matter is both of these movies idolize/sympathize white men… Particularly white men I don’t think deserve the light they were being portrayed in. During the whole press tour, they kept saying “Oppenheimer was the most important person to have lived.” Which I simply disagree with.

From what I understand and the movie does hit on, after the creation of the bomb is when Oppenheimer really starts to grasp the reality of what he helped create. As though he had something to prove and did not stop until he made it happen (for himself and/or the world). Then once it was done he started to understand what he lent a hand to bring to life. I’m not saying that he didn’t feel the weight of it, he lobbied against nuclear development especially as a weapon (after the fact). However, he was fully aware that is what he was making it for to begin with.

There was a lot of talk about feeling very heavy leaving this movie. Especially considering the state of the world these last few years. The piece that I really took away from this movie was… We are our own destruction. And that is terrifying. Because if we have the power to create such destruction, why is it so difficult to achieve peace?

Stars: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ✨