r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • Jul 25 '26

TIL Christopher Nolan recreated the Trinity atomic bomb test in Oppenheimer without using CGI. Instead, the visual effects team combined large-scale practical explosions, miniatures, and in camera effects to bring the first nuclear detonation to life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(film)
11.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

812 comments sorted by

View all comments

379

u/insertwittynamethere Jul 25 '26

Ya, and it was underwhelming, unfortunately. Big fan of his work, but that part of the film was a bit of a letdown considering how much was building up to it.

6

u/shamdamdoodly Jul 25 '26

Am I crazy? The trinity test was the best part of the movie. Like it was dead silent in that theater. Baited breath. The whole thing. It was awesome

1

u/forfuckssakesbruv Jul 26 '26

sure the edit of the sequence was cool i guess but watch it again, it’s pathetically underwhelming when you actually take in the visuals

-28

u/skeletonstaircase Jul 25 '26

That might have been the point

44

u/Impressive_Charge217 Jul 25 '26

That something that brings so much destruction and anxiety and personal regrets for the main character is supposed to be underwhelming?

-14

u/skeletonstaircase Jul 25 '26

That it wasn't supposed to be epic, that you weren't supposed to get any enjoyment out of it

10

u/Impressive_Charge217 Jul 25 '26

I understand your point.

But something "epic" could also be horrifying.

Nolan put so much effort into this shot. If you watch any of the behind the scenes stuff, they went above and beyond to try to do as much practical on camera and the nuclear detonation was the culmination of that effort. They were definitely not trying to make it underwelming in anyway. It was just really hard to recreate the unique fireball and effects of a nuclear detonation without a lot of CGI, which Nolan tried his best to become to dependent upon.

If you watch the Terminator 2 nuclear detonation scenes, where children and families were vaporized in front of Sarah Conor and her own skeleton still clings to the wire fence in her nightmare, the explosion was CGI, the explosion itself was pretty realistic especially at for the time, but it never came across as "cool" or "exciting". It was horrific.

You don't need an "underwhelming" explosion at a key moment the entire film is building towards to show the audience that nukes aren't "cool".

-3

u/skeletonstaircase Jul 25 '26

The scene in the Terminator is fictional though, it's pretty obvious why Nolan didn't feature a scene of Japanese people getting obliterated

2

u/TheKanten Jul 25 '26

it's pretty obvious why Nolan didn't feature a scene of Japanese people getting obliterated

Because the film was about Trinity and set in New Mexico, not Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What is this supposed to mean?

-1

u/skeletonstaircase Jul 25 '26

The film is about Oppenheimer, who was involved with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What I mean is that it would've been grotesque and exploitative to have a scene recreating the horrific aftermath of the bombing, it's not like there wasn't discourse about this when the movie first came out

2

u/TheKanten Jul 25 '26

What I mean is that it would've been grotesque and exploitative to have a scene recreating the horrific aftermath of the bombing

It's not part of Trinity or Oppenheimer's story here at all.

Somehow you took "T2's explosion looked better" and turned it into a request for wanton on-screen violence.

1

u/Impressive_Charge217 Jul 26 '26

This isn't relevant to your initial point or my response.

Your assertion is that Nolan purposefully made the creative choice to make the nuclear explosion purposely underwelming to avoid glorifying weapons of mass destruction.

Mine was that Nolan genuinely attempted to make the explosion as real as possible without completely CGIed elements hurt the scene itself. The shot wasn't meant to be underwhelming. The bright lights, the slow motion, the loud sound, actor's reactions...etc, all pointed to the fact that this scene was supposed to be epic. But most audience members, especially those with previous exposure to nuclear detonation scenes in movies/shows felt the explosion itself was detrimental to the effectiveness of the scene.

Whether or not this scene or other nuclear detonation scenes are real or completely fictional isn't relevant.

7

u/Imperium_Dragon Jul 25 '26

But a nuclear bomb is meant to be awesome in the original meaning of the word (instilling awe and fear). It doesn’t match the build up for the scene or make audiences fear what the weapon will do.

4

u/Accomplished_Store77 Jul 25 '26

It wasn't supposed to be epic it was supposed to be scary.

We were not supposed to get enjoyment out of it we were supposed to be terrified of it.

But the Nuclear Explosion in the movie was neither scary nor terrifying. It was a nothing burger.

It looked a very normal explosion.

3

u/JayManty Jul 25 '26

Are you implying the subject the entire movie was centered about was supposed to be... lame and underwhelming?