Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Oppenheimer’.
One can considerOppenheimera groundbreaking film for various reasons. The blockbuster period-piece biopic not only shares an unsung story about one of history’s most contentious physicists, but in the signature style ofChristopher Nolan, it also presses boundaries of what cinema can do both visually and dramatically. Thestar-studded filmoffers stellar performances from the likes ofCillian Murphy,Matt Damon,Emily Blunt,David Krumholtz,Florence Pugh,and more. However, the most memorable performance may come from the world’s favorite superhero actor,Robert Downey Jr., who plays against his conventional type to give us an unexpected and down-to-earth villain.
Oppenheimer
The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Robert Downey Jr. Is Hollywood’s Hero in His Film Roles
Although they might be snarky and sarcastic,Robert Downey Jr.’s characters almost always come off as heroes at the ends of their respective movies.Even when he’s not donning a super suit to playIron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, RDJ has excelled at playing protagonists from Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Dolittle. Outside of blockbusters, he may take on more morally complicated roles, but whether he stars in a comedy likeTropic ThunderorDue Date, a drama likeChaplinorThe Soloist, a neo-noir likeZodiac, or a mix of the three inKiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Downey Jr. often finds himself winning over the audience’s hearts before the credits roll.
InOppenheimer, Downey Jr. portrays Lewis Strauss: a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, where the eponymousDr. Robert Oppenheimer(Murphy) works, and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission after World War II. Through nonlinear editingreminiscent of Nolan’sMementoandThe Prestige,Oppenheimeralmost becomes just as much Strauss' story as it does the titular scientist’s. In between color scenes of Dr. Oppenheimer creating the atomic bomb during the War, black-and-white scenes show Strauss attending a hearing to joinPresident Eisenhower’s cabinet in the 1950s.
With a receding white hairline and thick glasses, Robert Downey Jr. is not immediately recognizable as Strauss.He appears far older than the actor’s 58 years would suggest. Nevertheless, Strauss enters the film with reasonable levels of RDJ charm. In one of the first scenes, Strauss offers Oppenheimer a prestigious position at Princeton, and even as their differences unfold across the film’s first and second acts, Strauss still upholds an image as one of the scientist’s allies. It’s not until the third act that a classic Nolan twist turns the character on his head and reveals his true, conniving nature.
What Makes Robert Downey Jr. ‘Oppenheimer’ Performance So Strong?
Unbeknownst to the audience for nearly two hours of thefilm’s colossal 171-minute runtime,Strauss is secretly the villain inOppenheimer.Near the start of the third act, as his hearing breaks for a recess, Strauss reveals to his senate aid (Alden Ehrenreich) that he has covertly been pulling strings to undermine Oppenheimer for political gain. Throughout the film, several scenes depict Oppenheimer being aggressively interrogated about his left-leaning, former-Communist affiliations in conjunction with his stances against the United States developing a Hydrogen Bomb. In this pivotal scene, Strauss reveals that he not only orchestrated the interrogation but rigged it against Oppenheimer to ensure that the scientist would lose his security clearance to the Atomic Energy Commission.
Robert Downey Jr. plays this switch masterfully. Just as Strauss has all of his colleagues fooled, RDJ effectively tricks the audience into thinking he is one of the story’s good guys. However,once Strauss reveals his true nature and ambitions, all the subtleties in RDJ’s performance rise to the surface. Throughout the scene, he remains cool, calculated, and precise, and yet, we now notice the hints of furious self-absorption that Downey Jr. has been building within the character all along.
Why Does Robert Downey Jr. Work So Well as Strauss?
The atypical casting of Robert Downey Jr. as Strauss makes the twist even more rousing. Unlike Tony Stark or Sherlock Holmes,Strauss never comes off as the smooth-talking maverick that RDJ often portrays.Even before the curtain falls on his agreeable facade, Strauss is somewhat distant inOppenheimer. He appears as an uninspiring bureaucrat, rarely filling the room and hardly a centerpiece in the film. For a good chunk of the movie, it seems like the character is just there to frame Oppenheimer’s story without consequence. It’s a far cry from RDJ’s usual roles as suave, eccentric bigwigs, and it adds to the twist’s chilling effect.
As aforementioned, RDJ is best known for playing protagonists, and yet Strauss' character arc is almost the reverse of Tony Stark’s in the firstIron Manmovie. In the 2008 superhero film, Stark enters the narrative as an openly conceited hothead, but by the end, he rises to become a selfless hero. By contrast, Strauss beginsOppenheimeras a likable figure but ends with his pride and arrogance flatly displayed. It is not layers of hubris peeled back to reveal virtue, but quite the inverse, and while Iron Man eventually saves the world inThe Avengers,Oppenheimer’s haunting denouementsuggests that Strauss contributed to its destruction.
Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘Oppenheimer’ Role Showcases His Impressive Range
All of this — from RDJ’s anti-typecasting to Strauss' layered identity — not only proves thatRobert Downey Jr is more than a character actor, but it demonstrates that he has a talent for nuanced and complex roles… enough so to pull off a Christopher Nolan plot twist without the narrative assistance of time travel, wormholes, or nineteenth-century magicians.
Above all, though, it confirms thatDowney Jr. can play the villain just as well as he can play the hero.After nine times portraying Iron Man, and only once getting to dip his toe into antagonistic waters whenbecoming the adversary inCaptain America: Civil War, RDJ finally showcases his chops for playing a cold, conspiring, and (eventually) unambiguous bad guy in a movie. While we’d all love to see Robert Downey Jr. further demonstrate his range and take on additional roles in serious movies likeOppenheimer, we can’t help but feel inspired by his villainous portrayal of Strauss, and question if there might be a supervillain role in the actor’s future.
