The teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer
has been shown in theatres in front of Jordan Peele's Nope, and it's a fantastic first look
at the ideas and imagery that the Auteur blockbuster filmmaker is going to be
bringing.
The trailer hasn't currently released online, and if we take TENET as an example, Nolan
may just keep this as a threatrical only teaser trailer.
But having seen the teaser myself, I'm going to be giving you my reaction and breakdown
of it, presenting my early thoughts on what we saw and what I think about
Christopher Nolan's new world war 2 biopic.
But before I get into my breakdown, if you want to keep up to date on any of my content
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But without further a do, lets dive into my thoughts on the Oppenheimer teaser trailer.
So it turns out that my trailer prediction video was bang on the money, as yesterday,
the teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was debuted exclusively in movie
theaters.
The brief teaser was attached to showings of Jordan Peele’s Nope, which especially
makes sense as both films are IMAX features supported by Universal Pictures and it's exactly
a year before Oppenheimer releases.
Nolan has done a similar thing with all of his movies since The Dark Knight in IMAX,
debuting a 1 minute teaser in theatres around a year before they
come out.
But a thing to note is that the first TENET teaser was never actually released online
officially, so it's currently unclear whether Universal will release this in HD.
If it's not published in the next week, then I would
expect it to remain in theatres with Nope.
And I guess for a short teaser like this that's quite understandable.
Still there will likely be another trailer and a traditional prologue
release at the end of the year, and I'll discuss a bit more about that towards the end of this
video.
Something to also mention, before I get into my breakdown and review of the teaser,
is that Universal released a teaser poster for the film yesterday, showcasing an instantly
iconic fiery image of the man himself surrounded by
the atomic fire.
The tagline reads "the world forever changes" and the poster also displays the current release
date, which is July 21st 2023.
It's another brilliant Nolan poster, that once again uses the main character front and
centre.
Oppenheimer of course stars longtime Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy as theoretical
physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was the director of the Manhattan Project and the
father of the atomic bomb.
But let's get straight into the teaser trailer and discuss what we saw from the first footage.
So after the Universal and Syncopy logos appear on screen, the teaser trailer began with dialogue
from Emily Blunt's Katherine Oppenheimer, and she says to her husband, "The world is
changing, reforming.
This is your moment."
A shot of Oppenheimer's hat then appears on screen with a countdown also revealing itself.
It reads, “11 months, 24 days, 15 hours, 29
minutes” and we follow this with someone saying "how can this man, be so smart, be
so blind".
So Nolan's new film is once again using the central themes of time to convey the story
that unfolds and this presumably is a countdown
to the day that the world changes forever and the United States launch the first-ever
nuclear weapon at 5:29 am on July 16th, 1945.
It was code named Trinity, and this test was a implosion-design
nuclear device, eventually nicknamed The Gadget.
The bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki had the same design and using this
countdown in the trailer, creates a quite frightening and haunting sensibilty that Nolan
has perfected over the years when it comes to the usage of time.
Of course, Nolan loves a ticking-clock structure, and he’s again
leaning into one as the film builds towards the day that the world forever changes.
Not to mention that this countdown also has a double meaning,
because in just under 12 months the film will be releasing.
But as this trailer progresses, there's also footage of fire and smoke with what sounds
like Gary Oldman's character Truman saying, “the force from which the sun draws
its power has been loosed”.
This is intercut between black-and-white shots of Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, putting
his hat on to more dialogue such as, "you gave them the power
to destroy themselves" and "you made him the most important man who ever lived".
After more smoke and fire frames building in intensity, we
end on a shot of Oppenheimer walking through the press towards the camera with flashing
from their cameras.
So it suggests that we're going to be getting the full story of Oppenheimer's
life, whether it be the developing of the bomb, the race against time to create it,
the terrifying countdown to that first test or the complications and grief that he felt
with everything that takes place afterwards.
At the end of the teaser, you can hear Robert Downey Jr., as Lewis Strauss referencing J.
Robert Oppenheimer, as “The man who moved the earth",
and we know that he was the driving force in the controversial hearings in which his
security clearance was revoked.
So there's going to be everything you'd expect from a Nolan picture,
whether it be the impressive photography or intense storytelling and themes on display.
So what did I think of the first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.
Well with this just being the announcment teaser, it's a fantastic way to really echo
the themes and ideas that the film is going to be presenting.
The black and Imax photography looks stunning when contrasted with atomic fire shots that
engulf the screen and it also suggests to me that we might see an experimental use of
that by Nolan.
It got thinking, what if Oppenheimer for most of it's runtime is in black and white, switching
between 35mm and IMAX photography and then the moment that first
Atomic bomb test goes off, the film turns to clour as a way of signalling not just the
start of the atomic age but also the message of
realisation surrounding the terror that Oppenheimer has just created.
I think that would be a cool artistic choice by Nolan and seeing this teaser trailer present
shots of Oppenheimer in black and white and then shots of smoke
and fire in colour, get's me thinking about that being a potential choice he could use.
It might just be a way of presenting the ideas for
this particular teaser, but it would be cool if we saw something like that in the film.
Also, I have to mention the unnerving score by Ludwig Gorannson throughout this footage,
because right from the appearance of the timer onscreen,
he employs an effective haunting score.
It acclerates in quite a terrifying way to get the audiences adrenaline pumping, just
like if an atom bomb was about to go off.
It's the perfect big screen teaser to get you thinking about what cinematic choices
Nolan will employ with this film, whether it be in it's score,
it's cinematography or it's storytelling.
I really loved it and I can't wait to see what kind of performances each of the cast
bring too.
One things for sure, Cillian Murphy is going to do his all to bring his iconic take to
the central role and he looks exactly like Oppenhimer in all of the black and white footage
we see of him.
Overall, I'm Really excited for it and right now, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer
is my joint most anticipated movie of 2023 with Dune Part 2.
The last thing I wanted to talk about in this video now that some of us have seen the teaser
trailer for Oppenheimer, is the potential release date for the full length trailer and
the IMAX prologue that Christopher Nolan traditionally
does for all his big screen instalments.
Of course, I was right about the release date for this teaser and if you watched my video
on that, you'll know that I predicted that the
IMAX prologue could come with Avatar the Way of Water in theatres on Decmber 16th and then
a release of the full trailer online at the same
sort of time.
I'm sticking with that prediction and Nolan typically starts the big marketing push in
December when looking back at some of his other July releases.
If I had to guess, I think this teaser may just be in theatres
because it's a smaller announcement, but then this December, I think we'll see the prologue
before Avatar 2 and the trailer released online a
few days later.
It's the perfect target, because for one, it's an IMAX feature and two, it's potentially
the biggest film of the year so the filmmaker can get a lot more eyes on the
film by impressing them with the prologue.
The TENET prologue was shown before screenings of Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker on December
19th 2019.
So December 16th for Avatar 2 would be a likely bet when it comes to the Oppenheimer
IMAX Prologue.
But for now, we've got a great teaser to keep us anticipating more and I'm really looking
forward to the marketing push and eventual release of Christopher Nolan's
highly anticipated film.
But that was my video discussing my thoughts and breaking down the teaser trailer for Christopher
Nolan's Oppenheimer.
Again, it's a great first look at the film that really sets the
tone of what we expect to see, and I think the terrifying timer of the atom bomb test
and the guilt that Oppenheimer faces afterwards are going to the big talking point of the
overall narrative.
As Matthew Modine, who is one of the actors of Oppenheimer, said about the film yesterday,
"The atomic bomb is an extreme example of human ignorance and Christopher Nolan’s
film might illuminate the destructive nature of our kind".
It's a film that appears to be questioning that fully with the story of J Robert Oppenheimer,
and I think after watching this footage, we're going to see the genius behind
him, yet also the issues that has stemmed from his creation.
It's the perfect morally grey story that Christopher Nolan has done so well
time and time again.
So as a first teaser, count me in as incredibly excited for Nolan's next theatrical film.
But if you've already seen the trailer in front of Nope, let me know down
below in the comments section what you thought of the first footage from Oppenheimer, alongside
whether it get's you excited for Christopher Nolan's new film.
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