Part 1 of Barbenheimer couldn’t have started off much better. 

At first I was a little thrown by the fast pacing but the film really settles into its own by the trinity section. I also think in the grand scheme it helps pace this 3 hour film really well. 

I think Nolan played it really smart here. By interweaving  the two timelines (Memento style) he gives each segment room to breath without dragging. I also appreciate that it doesn’t over explain Oppy. We get the films subject of the moral dilemma of creating this kind of weapon and the government's tendency to disregard those who have helped them when they are no longer useful quite up front. However, a lot of Oppenheimer’s decision making rational is left for us to decide, what we do get access to are the sounds in his head. 

Continuing on sound, I appreciate how Nolan manages to maintain his sense of cinematic scale even when dealing with a biopic. The bombastic sound mixing, the tense score, and dedication to theatre shattering visuals are still in full force here. It is a great balance of a director branching out while still playing to their strengths. 

If I have any hold outs it is just some minor things. I feel like I’m the rush of the first leg lots of characters get thrown and it can be quite jarring. I can’t say I could follow who many of theme were and at times it felt a bit more like a who’s who of this major cast. Oppy is front and centre since it is his film, but I feel like maybe his relationships could have been more defined if we got to know the other characters a bit better. I also think the Robert Downy Jr segments could feel a bit dense to start and took some time to follow all that was going on. This is something that could be fixed on a second watch however. 

Overall this is the most I have enjoyed a Nolan release in a long time, and it rightly lived up to the hype.