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Oppenheimer (2023)

 


Oppenheimer is a biographical thriller film written and directed by the legendary Christopher Nolan and based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin.

Nolan doesn't do mediocre films. Interstellar is probably my favorite, while Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy come in second and third. He certainly had a golden decade of films between 2005-2014. Dunkirk and Tenet aren't as glorious as previous films, but his writing is still on point for creating interesting films to watch. It seems he loves history and especially World War II. I just hope it's not another three years before we get another film. Though that seems to be his pattern.

This isn't the first time Cillian Murphy has worked with Nolan and it probably won't be his last. He was in Inception, Dunkirk, and played Scarecrow in The Dark Knight. He carries the film as Oppenheimer but was sort of outshined by Rober Downey Jr. who plays Lewis Strauss. It's one of my few criticisms of the film is that Downey does a better job playing the role he was given.

There are so many actors you'll recognize in the film, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Josh Hartnett, Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, and Rami Malek. There are some other actors that I believe you should know from other movies, but you might not have a finger on their names. Alden Ehrenreich plays the Senate Aide to RDJ. He was Han Solo in the Solo film. Jason Clarke plays the prosecution for Oppenheimer's hearing. He was Malcolm in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but I know him as John Connor from the mediocre Terminator Genisys. Tony Goldwyn, who plays typical sleazeballs, like in Ghost, The Belko Experiment, and Divergent: Insurgent. Kenneth Branagh plays Niels Bohr, an important person to the story but the average audience will have no idea who that person is. He was Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Alex Wolff of Hereditary fame. Matthew Modine who I particularly can't stand some of the characters he plays, examples being Dr. Martin Brenner from Stranger Things, and Foley in The Dark Knight Rises. David Dastmalchian, who plays typical creeps like the Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad, Piter de Vries in Dune, and more recently as Lester in The Boogeyman. Dane DeHaan who you might recognize as Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but I knew him from A Cure for Wellness. Josh Peck from Drake & Josh. Jack Quaid from The Boys, and Benny Safdie from Good Time and Uncut Gems, both make splashes. 

I'm sure there are people I've missed, but everyone wants to work with Nolan. I don't think I'll ever watch this film again, much like Dunkirk and Tenet. While Nolan's other work I could still put on and enjoy a rewatch. This lowers my rating to an A, it's still great, but I don't ever want to watch it again. 



 



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