Can Nolan’s Oppenheimer Movie Recover From Tenet’s Missteps?

Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan is returning to the big screen with his biopic Oppenheimer in 2023, though the film must overcome the missteps of his 2020 sci-fi action thriller Tenet. Following his acclaimed war film Dunkirk in 2017, Nolan released the high-concept action thriller Tenet in 2020, which returned the director to his metaphysical thematic roots. Tenet, which was released early in the COVID-19 pandemic, followed a secret agent tasked with preventing an attack from the future that could annihilate the present, with The Protagonist learning to manipulate time entropy for his mission. Although the film was a hit for its striking visuals, Nolan-esque high-concept narrative, and challenging cinematic achievement, Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s lowest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes.

Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film Oppenheimer has already gathered the attention of critics and moviegoers long before its release, particularly due to the star-studded cast already attached to the project and the notion of a completely new narrative genre for the sci-fi director. Oppenheimer, which is set to be released in 2023, is a biopic following the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as one of the “fathers of the atomic bomb.” Oppenheimer is one of the most influential scientists in history, having been on the team in the Manhattan Project that designed the atomic bomb, which contributed to ending World War II. Following the war, Oppenheimer advocated for international control of nuclear power so as to avoid the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, which led to a revocation of his security clearances amidst the Second Red Scare. Portraying Oppenheimer is frequent Christopher Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy, with actors like Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, and Benny Safdie also included in the cast.

While Christopher Nolan’s highly-praised career makes it difficult to underestimate the director, the problems with his 2020 film Tenet make the predictive success of Oppenheimer less certain. Tenet featured missteps with certain story elements, editing, and outside forces with its release, and Oppenheimer must closely address these faults in order to avoid them in the 2023 biopic. While Oppenheimer is a fundamentally different film from Christopher Nolan’s typical themes and subject matter, it has the opportunity to fully recover from the issues that contributed to Tenet’s shortcomings.

The Problems With Nolan’s Tenet

While Tenet was still an overall success, the 2020 film is notable as one of Christopher Nolan’s weaker projects. While it’s unfair to tout Tenet as a box office failure due to its release at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was unable to reach initial expectations to break even against its expensive budget, with the film’s HBO Max simultaneous release. Nolan was adamant about Tenet’s importance as a cinematic experience upon its release, which drew much criticism of insensitivity surrounding the need to stay home during the raging pandemic. Tenet may have fared better had it been postponed for a better cinematic release, but its theatrical pursuits in a better timeframe wouldn’t have saved it from the majority of critical complaints.

The divisively-reviewed movie was criticized for its sound editing, which Nolan typically shines in, with many noting that the mixing made the dialogue inaudible. Tenet also faced issues in its character development and humanity, as its focus on high-concept metaphysical details and Bond-like action overshadowed any significant pathos in the story. The mathematics and science of Tenet also didn’t land well with many viewers, with some critics noting it was too confusing to keep track of. While others enjoyed the time-bending puzzle of Tenet, its structure, spy-thriller genre tropes, and character development fell short for many, thus contributing to its label as Nolan’s most divisive film yet.

Oppenheimer Is Distinctly Different From Other Nolan Movies

Christopher Nolan is known for his films being grand visual, cinematic experiences with his plots crutched on high-concept metaphysical themes. The malleability of time, human nature, morality, and identity typically underlie Christopher Nolan’s unconventionally structured movies, with emotional characters whose existential complexes charge the plot. While Oppenheimer continues Nolan’s mathematical streak, the film is like nothing he’s ever made before. Oppenheimer is Nolan’s first venture into a biographical film, with 2017’s Dunkirk being the closest as it was based on the real-life Dunkirk evacuation from World War II. While Dunkirk isn’t entirely a true story, it can be seen as the basis for Oppenheimer in Nolan’s approach to the 2023 movie’s real-life people, events, and setting. Oppenheimer is the first time Nolan is dealing with real people in a biographical film, meaning it will stretch much longer than just the theoretical physicist’s time making the atomic bomb in World War II.

When considering the subject matter, it’s hard to believe Oppenheimer will feature Nolan’s typical striking visuals and cinematic set piece calling cards. Unless Oppenheimer cuts to scenes of World War II battlefronts like in Dunkirk, the majority of the action will be confined to labs and field testing of bombs during the Manhattan Project. While Oppenheimer will likely still feature Christopher Nolan’s typical story motivation pressures of time running out as the scientists’ race to make the atomic bomb against the destruction of World War II, it won’t feature the imminent life-or-death circumstances of the same propensity that Nolan’s characters generally face. With a production budget estimated at only $100 million, Oppenheimer’s technology and special effects won’t be as overzealous as his typical sci-fi movies. As a true story that many are familiar with, Oppenheimer also faces a larger risk in how it portrays such characters on screen, especially since the success of Nolan’s past stories hasn’t relied on the emotional development of its characters to such precision before.

How Oppenheimer Can Avoid (& Recover From) Tenet’s Issues

While Tenet was released at one of the worst possible times for movie-going in the pandemic, Oppenheimer’s 2023 release date bodes well when considering the more recent blockbuster box office successes. Marvel films have exceeded expectations at the box office in the last quarter of 2021, with movies from major franchises and directors like Lightyear and Avatar 2 also expected to near the $1 billion box office earning mark in 2022. Since Nolan’s movies are typically meant for the big screen, he may see much better attendance and reception when his target audience is more comfortable returning to theaters. Nolan received plenty of flak from critics and audiences alike for pushing Tenet’s theatrical importance at a time when most of the world was shutting down due to the pandemic, which may have tainted many viewers’ perception going into the film.

Alongside redeeming himself from outside forces affecting Tenet’s performance issues, Christopher Nolan’s genre-combining next movie can avoid some of the missteps of sound design, little pathos or character development, and an uneven genre structure with his high-concept Bond-esque movie. Tenet was still a success on a wider scale, but compared to Nolan’s standards, it fell below the mark regarding what audiences expect of the director. As a true story about real influential people, Oppenheimer is bound to be a more character-driven plot, which Nolan has excelled in with his past critically acclaimed films. Dunkirk was Nolan’s only previous movie based on true events and did extremely well, though it was far more based on its large set pieces and action rather than plot-based character motivations through dialogue, which Oppenheimer will give Nolan the opportunity to return to.

While Tenet was another high-concept scientifically-based film like Nolan’s Interstellar and Inception, the latter two movies were propelled by their confusing science with how well-developed and emotionally charged the movies were. With Oppenheimer being a combination of history, character focus, and high-concept, war-based science, the 2023 movie truly is in a place for Nolan to use all of his incredible tricks for what worked in his most successful films. Rather than Nolan trying to limit himself by genre constructions, Oppenheimer’s subject matter better suits itself to combine the themes and styles Nolan excels in. The most important shortcoming of Tenet for Christopher Nolan to avoid in Oppenheimer is two-dimensional characters, as the emotional investment in his characters’ goals often subsides the need to understand the details of his high-concept details. With Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr. leading Oppenheimer’s explosive movie, Nolan is already in a place where the character performances stand to benefit the film’s plot better than they did for Tenet.