So this is a biopic, which is usually a bland and uninteresting genre of film, but Nolan makes it into a motherfucking movie by virtue of being an excellent filmmaker. It’s visually interesting, it’s edited achronologically in ways that tease out an unexpected story about Oppenheimer’s politics (perceived and real) over time, and it has some amazing supporting performances (especially Robert Downey Jr.).

Even knowing that this wasn’t really going to be about the development of the bomb, I was surprised by how much it wasn’t about that. Like, I thought that when people said it wasn’t about that, they meant that it wasn’t about the science itself and was all about how Oppenheimer felt about the bomb. But it’s not even that. Like, sure, that whole bomb thing happened, but it was all just backdrop to the story the movie is actually telling, about how someone with lefty political sympathies moves into a world where those sympathies are no longer acceptable while also trying not to abandon/betray their friends — and whether it’s possible to do that while not abandoning/betraying your own principles.

I know the whole “Barbenheimer” pairing was a coincidence of release date and ironic subject matter pairing, but the two movies honestly feel similar in one big way: That they took a subject that could have been obvious and/or boring, and through sheer screenwriting and directorial skill turned it into both an extremely non-obvious story and a compelling movie.

I still come down on the side of Barbie being the more interesting movie, but this is legitimately excellent, and I’m glad this wasn’t the turgid, ponderous, self-serious epic I was expecting.