When this movie came out last year, I assumed it would be boring; after all, how interesting can life of a scientist be? I know lives of artists were interesting enough, but what can a movie of 3 hours on the life of a scientist offer us? J. Robert Oppenheimer was not an Einstein, or a Niels Bohr and I never read about him in school days. Hence, I dropped the idea of watching it and I recently watched it on JioCinema.
One interesting thing to know is that the movie is made based on the book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The book had won the year 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. This explains the movie's tilt towards a particular episode in the life of the scientist: "security clearance hearing", to make it more interesting for the viewers. But I did not like the hearings during most part of the movie and it offered some good insights only at the end. The story about nuclear bomb's development was much more interesting and it would have been better if the movie makers covered the nuclear program part apart from giving some insights on other parts of life, like his childhood, parents, of the old age. It is supposed to be a "biopic" after all.
The star cast of the movie is mind-blowing. It is like a dream to have a collection of so many actors and actresses I liked, and all have been included to make this movie.
I have been a great fan of Cillian Murphy, and he has done a good job in this movie. After all, he got an Academy Award for Best Actor for this film. But I noticed that he has become almost skeleton like thin, and I am not sure if he became like this for this rule since the real J. Robert Oppenheimer was thin but not 'this thin'.
More than Cillian Murphy, I loved the role played by Robert Downey Jr. He has totally nailed the role of an old astute politician Lewis Strauss and he is hardly recognizable in his role, and it is so amazing to witness his great art of acting. I read that he got Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor too.
Emily Blunt is great in her role of Katherine Oppenheimer, the wife of Robert Oppenheimer.
Matt Damon is surprisingly "average" in the beginning and only by the end of the movie he justifies his huge name and fame.
It is great to see Alden Ehrenreich in the role of a Senate aide to Lewis Strauss. I remember him from his amazing movie "Rules Don't Apply" (2016) and it was nice to see him again on screen.
Coming back to my overall feeling after having watched it, I think the movie makers should have shortened it to 2.5 hours, and if they could have found any other backdrop instead of "security clearance hearing", it would have been better. I think as a "biopic" this movie definitely falls short of my expectation because it is about only two particular events from his life.
- Rahul
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