This movie got a lot of buzz on social media when it was released, but not particularly because of its storyline or acting or anything of that sort (it's a good movie btw). It got the buzz because it was going to go live in cinemas the exact same day as Barbie, and it's stark contrast with Barbie made it somewhat funny, it was made to seem like, the snowflakes would go see barbie, which is all pink and girl power, why the hard cookies would go watch oppenheimer which is about the father of the atomic bomb. In typical Brainrot fashion, the meme Barbenheimer was born, and we had people making up fake posters, shirts and so on, that random people (like me at the time) thought Barbenheimer was a real movie. Anyways, I didn't watch it then when the hype was still real, and now I finally watched it, let's get into the review.
PLOT
We are sucked rather quickly Into the life of American Theoretical Physicist Dr J Robert Oppenheimer. Some parts of his teenage life, his rise to glory, his key role in the creation of the atomic bomb, the dropping of said bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the effects it had on his life and so on.
There's a lot more than this, but there's not a very good way to state some of this things without spoiling the movie.
MY THOUGHTS
Firstly I'd like to say that the whole barbenheimer narrative as at that time made painted it in a way it isn't really like. Basing your thoughts on the film off that would make you extremely disappointed. I'm also pretty sure most of those who were making barbenheimer memes didn't watch the movie.
I'd also like to say, It is a good movie, but I don't see it as a movie anyone would just watch and enjoy. The story is told in a not so straightforward manner, like one of those documentaries where they start from the end (present), then walk through from the beginning, but they keep cutting between the present, and some other point in time which we the viewers aren't sure of till somewhere towards the end of the movie. I personally found this style confusing, it was hard to keep track of certain things and then afterwards the realization of what is happening is nice, but it's not nice enough to justify not just telling the story in sequence.
Then we have the movie length, it airs for 3 hrs which is just slightly higher than the usual 2 hrs most film are, but the 3 hrs feels a bit long.
OK, enough about the things I didn't like about the movie, let me start with the things I liked.
Firstly as a science student we hear a lot of these names in class, and we use a lot their rules and postulates especially in physics and chemistry, the likes of Niels Bohr,Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Enrico Fermi, Richard Feynman, the entire movie was like a smartest men on the earth conference. It really showed how scientists were valued at that time. They were working tirelessly to make the world (mostly their country) a better place and they were often rewarded with political positions and accolades. That's something that's not common in this day and age. I'm not even sure I can name any popular modern day scientist.
The casting was amazing as well, random top level actors just spawning as random people in the movie was nice, you could tell it was a very budget intensive movie.
I like the story of Oppenheimer, though he's not as famous as the likes of Niels Bohr and Einstein, he was a very brilliant mind and though he regret his work, it ultimately pushed the limits of human understanding so he did a great job. And it's a good thing his fears of ending the world weren't realised because his work has since been used by scientists after him to make the world a better place.
As for the movie, it did a good job telling us the story. I found it interesting, but I don't think it's something I can choose to sit down and watch with a friend (unless they're a nerd 🤓 like me). They'd definitely get carried away. Giving this a 7/10
