Originally posted on 08 December 2023
HOUR 1
My lord, this movie was long~ I thought we had watched two hours, but it turned out we only watched the first hour. We had to stop. It was too much in one sitting. Good thing we didn't watch this movie in a theater. It was definitely a at-home movie.
So far, very artsy. Probably it could be cut.
So far, Robert Downey Jr.'s role seemed unimportant and did not contribute to the story. Don't get me wrong; Robert Downey Jr.'s acting was superb. It showed his range. He wasn't Iron Man at all. He was an ordinary politician supporting Oppenheimer. But, do we really need this?
An hour in, the movie finally got interesting when Matt Doman showed up and they started building the bomb. Matt Damon was so good as a stern military brass trying to handle an egotistical civilian.
Two more hours to go~
HOUR 2
The movie was engaging. The building of the bomb, the search for the spy, and the men walking dramatically across fields. The acting was great from everyone; hour 2 was difficult to stop. I wanted to keep watching.
HOUR 3
After the bomb was successfully detonated at the test site, we thought it was going to be over soon; so we kept watching. But no~~. It went on and on unnecessarily. Why do I want to watch a loser politician trying to deny Oppenheimer's security clearance? History remembered Oppenheimer, not the loser politician. And also, building a nuclear bomb vs. security clearance hearing committee, which was more exciting?
Don't get me wrong. Robert Downey Jr. played the loser politician perfectly, but none of his parts contributed to the movie. This movie could shrink down to two hours without any politicians talking out of their asses.
SPOILER ALERT/TRIGGER WARNING
There were nudities and explicit sex scenes. Combined they didn't amount to more than thirty seconds. We were just surprised, because all of the movie review sites that we regular visited did not mention the sex scenes. I didn't feel the sex scenes contribute to the movie, either.
MATHEMATICIANS/PHYSICIANS
Math Teacher was so happy to see all of his idols on the big screen, especially Einstein. He loved Einstein was portrayed as this old gray-haired dude that showed up to dish out wisdom and then disappeared. He also loved the movie showed Einstein and Kurt Godel taking a stroll in Princeton University. He said the two seconds were completely unnecessary, but he loved it!
Then there's Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr, Ernest Lawrence. There were so many that the movie stopped introducing their names.
DVD
We were debating watching the movie in the theater or buying a DVD.
At my town, a movie ticket was $12/person. Me and Math Teacher would be $24, plus the ducking processing fee of $3. The total was $27.
The Oppenheimer DVD was selling at Target for $22, plus tax, which ended up to be $25.
We planned to see this movie once; so it didn't matter if we watched it in the theater or on DVD. The explosion scene would probably be spectacular on a big theater screen, but 1.5 hours of security clearance hearing would not be worth it sitting in a theater chair and not able to pause and go to bathroom (we were old people).
So we bought the DVD, and we will donate it to a library.
12 March 2024 Update: 2024 OSCAR
I'm glad Robert Downey Jr. won the supporting role. He was amazing as a politician that smiled in front of you but turned around to stab you in the back. Again, however, 90% of his story contributed nothing to the movie. However, the Academy Award was never going to give him best actor for Iron Man, even though Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel contributed billions of dollars to Hollywood for more than fifteen years. So, Oppenheimer would do.