Acting was about as perfect as you can get from the leads, directing was at times brilliant and other times superfluous, editing was timejumpy but made it compelling, seeing Einy was magical, ending was solid, writing was dialogue driven, the best scene was addressing the audience after the event.
This is Nolan's most realistic movie, and it is pure Oscar bait. It has a real shot at winning him Best Picture, which would be shocking with the way he's been mostly unaccepted when it comes to awards season.
However, as much as I thought it was a very good watch, brilliant at times, a good movie, and interesting, I also felt like it was a little bit too long and focused a little bit too much time on Strauss, when it could have been wrestling with Oppenheimer's moral dilemma or contained a shocking twist of some kind, even if it meant using creative liberties and stretching or embellishing the truth.
The Strauss twist just didn't land emotionally or powerfully for the script, even though it was true. And therein lies the biggest weakness of the film- because it's a true story, it plays out like a documentary with little cinematic umph at its climactic moments, but Nolan does better than anyone else could've done with the material to turn it into compelling cinema.
Technically, it's great-10/10, but experientially, it lands a little shy from being a true classic. However, I prefer this kind of grounded Nolan like with Memento and The Dark Knight than his overly ambitious sci fi thrillers because they are more relatable to real life. This is one of those one-watch technical gems that get high ratings, but most people would probably never sit through again unless it was for a school history class.
7.5/10.
This is Nolan's most realistic movie, and it is pure Oscar bait. It has a real shot at winning him Best Picture, which would be shocking with the way he's been mostly unaccepted when it comes to awards season.
However, as much as I thought it was a very good watch, brilliant at times, a good movie, and interesting, I also felt like it was a little bit too long and focused a little bit too much time on Strauss, when it could have been wrestling with Oppenheimer's moral dilemma or contained a shocking twist of some kind, even if it meant using creative liberties and stretching or embellishing the truth.
The Strauss twist just didn't land emotionally or powerfully for the script, even though it was true. And therein lies the biggest weakness of the film- because it's a true story, it plays out like a documentary with little cinematic umph at its climactic moments, but Nolan does better than anyone else could've done with the material to turn it into compelling cinema.
Technically, it's great-10/10, but experientially, it lands a little shy from being a true classic. However, I prefer this kind of grounded Nolan like with Memento and The Dark Knight than his overly ambitious sci fi thrillers because they are more relatable to real life. This is one of those one-watch technical gems that get high ratings, but most people would probably never sit through again unless it was for a school history class.
7.5/10.
