I didn’t love it.

I respect the technical mastery on display here. But this is my problem with a lot of Christopher Nolan movies: it’s devoid of any emotional connection. I just felt empty and hollow at the end of it. Didn’t help that the first 30 minutes felt so disjointed and the pacing really struggled. I’ve never been a fan of his sound editing/mixing and same applied here. It was loud and bombastic but half the time I couldn’t hear the damn dialogue. The movie was way overscored and I rolled my eyes at some unnecessary inserts and on-the-nose exposition.

I also hated the way female characters were handled in the movie, just like most of Nolan’s previous work. I’m very iffy about the screenplay and editing too. The movie didn’t need the typical Nolan-esque non-linear format; it actually took a lot away from it.

On the other hand, it was a god damn tour de force from Cillian Murphy and equally excellent work from Robert Downey Jr. Emily Blunt was also stellar in a very limited role and she made a meal out of what she could. Should be easy Oscar nominations for Murphy and Downey.

Oh but that lead up to the final Los Alamos test was thrilling and expertly executed. Downey also crushed the last act of the film.

Definitely some good stuff here but I’m underwhelmed by the overall product. But I say that about every Nolan movie, save for I guess The Prestige and Memento, and to a lesser extent, Dunkirk.