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The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

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Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#21

Post by gertrunde »

mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

Agreed.

It felt like 'good' film - i.e. critics and film buffs etc would love it, cinematography etc, but I can't say I actually enjoyed watching the film.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#22

Post by holoduke »

mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

To be honest I don't know of any good movie last few years. Might be because I am getting old or something.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#23

Post by linhns »

mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

What directions could they have gone to? Besides, this movie is not just about Oppenheimer, it’s also about the thirst of power of bureaucrats.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#24

Post by lawn »

tomalbrc wrote: post #6
ant6n wrote: post #3

There’s a lot of bits in the Oppenheimer film that seem simplified. For example that Los Alamos appears to be a fairly small operation, a bunch of shacks in the prairie, a kind of physics camp for a team of nerds. In reality the Manhattan project at Los Alamos was a huge operation, like 8000 people living there in 1945, a kind of university/research campus and town, but the movie doesn’t really show the scale. Also,…

Take it for what it is: a mediocre Hollywood flick. Sure, the movie contains elements or mentions of real life people and events, but its Hollywood after all.

I know its fashionable to hate in all things Hollywood, but calling it a "mediocre flick" is stretching it.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#25

Post by jdub »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #19
mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

This is a pretty common criticism (and I agree with it). To me it felt like the successful test was the obvious dramatic climax of the movie, but then you had another hour of a bunch of guys sitting in a room arguing about security clearance. It could have been shorter, or if they wanted to keep the length they could have explored Oppenheimer's early life in more detail.

But the successful test is not even remotely the moral conclusion of the story.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#26

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

> chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot

The movie is really about the conflict between a small-souled bureaucrat and a physics genius. The question is: what could a different story have been? I'm not sure there is enough juice in the "personal guilt" angle, and I don't think the "communist spie" angle is viable in today's Hollywood, given the general political leanings and, well, who the actual traitors were. Oppenheimer's direct involvement hasn't been conclusively proven (unlike eg Leo Szilard and a myriad others), so it comes down to how much you believe Pavel Sudoplatov's testimony, who was an NKVD general.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#27

Post by somenameforme »

holoduke wrote: post #22
mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

To be honest I don't know of any good movie last few years. Might be because I am getting old or something.

Uncommonly known factoid: movie ticket sales have been sharply declining for decades. We hit 'peak Hollywood' in 2002. [1] That's especially remarkable when you consider that the population has continued to increase since then.

The 'record breaking sales' since then are mostly a product of inflation alongside a mix of price increases. Here [2] is a table of best selling movies, inflation adjusted. No movie made in the past 25 years, including the endless men in spandex movies, is among the top 10. It's not us - it's Hollywood, but they seem ultimately unable to bring themselves out of this rut. What happened? I suspect a mixture of drugs and politics - the two cancers of the mind.

---

[1] - https://www.the-numbers.com/market/

[2] - https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross_adjus...

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#28

Post by [deleted] »

linhns wrote: post #23
mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

What directions could they have gone to? Besides, this movie is not just about Oppenheimer, it’s also about the thirst of power of bureaucrats.

[deleted]

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#29

Post by macintux »

holoduke wrote: post #22
mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

To be honest I don't know of any good movie last few years. Might be because I am getting old or something.

It took me a long time to finally see it, because I was a little skeptical of the hype, but I felt Everything Everywhere All at Once was brilliant.

Re: The true, dramatic story of Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Oppenheimer' villain

#30

Post by slily »

tinco wrote: post #11
mapasj wrote: post #5

I did not like this movie. That must be an unpopular opinion, given all the movie’s success. And specifically what I didn’t like was that the film makers could have gone in many directions in telling a story about Oppenheimer, but chose to make the RDJ villain central to the plot. The conflict in the film felt forced and unnecessary for telling a good story.

As someone with an interest in the history of physics as I'm sure many people here are, I didn't much like the film either. I liked the renditions of the different physicists and the overall arc of the story, but more like I'd be interested in a documentary. What's impressive about the movie is that they managed to create drama, artistry and tension in what's fundamentally something you can't really make a movie abou…

Calling Barbie a better movie because it's easier to watch is something I didn't expect to witness on HN.
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