A study in contrasts: It's the 'Barbenhiemer' review
I have now become Barbie. The destroyer of box offices...
Welcome, everyone, to the "Barbenhiemer" Review! As the meme surrounding these two starkly different films starts to die down, I’d like to give my 2 cents on the phenomena that has been sweeping the world.
"Oppenheimer"
What else can I say that hasn't been said about this movie? It’s a masterpiece and Christopher Nolan's magnum opus.
All the actors and actresses bring their A-game, especially Cillian Murphy ("The Dark Knight"). The man is Oppenhiemer. He completely blends into the role, and half the time I was convinced I was watching archival footage of the events surrounding the scientist.
Some additional standout performances include Robert Downy Jr., Emily Blunt ("A Quiet Place"), Florence Pugh ("Black Widow") and Devon Bosnick ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid").
The directing in this movie was masterful. Every shot looked like I was staring into a window of a distant memory. The use of black and white filters mixed with the in-color shots blended together perfectly.
The movie was a 10/10 and should be seen in theaters asap!
"Barbie"
Alright, hear me out on this one … “Barbie” isn't great. In fact, it’s one of the trippiest movies I have ever seen.
The movie follows Margot Robbie as so-called "Stereotypical Barbie" as she discovers she starts to malfunction. She is having thoughts that no Barbie should ever have, including those of an existential crisis. With help from the other Barbies and Kens, she sets off on a journey to the real world to rediscover what it means to be Barbie and what she represents to the world.
Wow this movie is really something. My biggest problem with the movie is that it’s not that funny. The trailers make it out as a comedy, when really it's a very thought-provoking movie with tiny bits of comedy thrown in to make sure the audience members don’t kill themselves when walking out of the theater. The way they use the Ken dolls as punching bags for mean jokes didn’t make the audience or me laugh, it was dead silent.
The movie is also surprisingly very sad and depressing. The message that the world is always out to get you and all you can do is stand up and fight didn’t catch me the way I wanted it to.
Ryan Gosling ("La La Land") does a great job embodying Ken, but I found him super annoying and I wanted to hear more about Barbie’s story. Everytime we get an interesting development for Barbie, the movie cuts back to Ken and his shenanigans.
The tone is all over the place in this movie. It starts off as a goofy comedy, moves on to a road trip, then a self reflective character study, an action adventure movie for whatever reason, and finishes on a biblical epic on what the point of life is. I swear after I got out of the movie I felt disjointed and dizzy, still processing what I just saw.
I liked most of the messages of the movie, just they all felt out of order or like five different movies mashed into one.
Greta Gerwig does a great job directing the movie. The movie is vibrant and colorful and full of personality, but constantly clashes with the tone of the movie to the point where it sometimes feels nauseating. The design of the sets were great, as it looked like I had stepped into a Barbie commercial and made it feel like a Barbie movie -- but just like the directing, it’s constantly fighting the battle of being a fun, light-hearted movie or being a dark satirical parody of the brand.
Overall I’m not sure who to recommend the movie to, or even if I can recommend seeing it; but then again the film should be seen just for how much of an acid trip it is. Don’t do drugs kids. Speaking of which, don’t bring your little ones to this movie, it is not for them.
Who is this movie for? You decide, because I sure don’t know. I’m gonna give Barbie a 6/10.
