I would think a three hour movie about the building of the atomic bomb would be more about the building of the atomic bomb. I would also think a three hour movie about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer would be more about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. I make this introduction in order to state that this is a solid movie but it’s not about what I thought it was about nor is it about what I’d expect the alternative to be about either.

Oppenheimer follows the career of J. Robert Oppenheimer who was the project lead on the atom bomb. It covers in a kind of broad strokes way the development of the weapon. It also jumps about in time telling us different things about his life before spending a lot of time on political grand/backstabbing.

Like most Christopher Nolan movies, the production was impeccable. The casting is a grab-bag of great actors who pull of solid performances. He puts his money on screen with impressive production values and pumps our ears with ponderous musical tones until our brains leak out of our heads (maybe it was my theater, but his penchant for drowning out dialog with his lumbering music was present, though others have reported otherwise).

My main issue with the flick is that I was expecting a nuts and bolts invention of the atom bomb story… something the detail-oriented artisan and craftsman in Nolan would have made. It definitely spends a decent chunk of time on it, but the way it skims over details, I ultimately didn’t really learn much. I think Nolan was so into his smarty pants ways, he didn’t care if the average moviegoer followed the beats or not.

Instead of those details, Nolan opts to spend an inordinate amount of time on flashforwards to multiple political hearings… a little of which went a long, long way. I eventually stopped giving a damn since this political fallout dragged on so long. It was obvious where it was going so I’m not sure why we needed to spend so much time belaboring the point.

My disappointment comes down to the movie not being about what I expected it to be about. So my rating is a little low even though the production and acting are all top notch and there some genuinely great thrilling and suspenseful scenes. But Nolan playing his usual Nolan games with timelines and story focus/structure was a problem. I wasn’t bored through most of the movie… but I did grow exasperated in the final hour.

Score: 84