Director
Christopher Nolan

Starring
Everyone in Hollywood evidently….but most notably: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr.


What a big week in cinema, with two of the most anticipated movies in recent memory hitting our screens in Barbie and Oppenheimer. No doubt they will both attract vastly different crowds, but it’s exciting to see so many ‘sold out’ notices on ticketing apps given the overall decline in theatre attendance since Covid. The latter of the two blockbusters is an incredible piece of filmmaking, which is exactly what you’d expect from a Christopher Nolan direction, the man who brought films like Inception and Interstellar to the big screen.

Being that Oppenheimer is based on historical events, this latest Nolan piece thankfully doesn’t require quite the same level of cerebral dedication to follow its plot as many of his other works, but that’s not to say that it isn’t intricate and challenging at times. Based on the life and work of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), this follows the timeline of Oppenheimer’s life from University through to his work on the Manhattan Project and the construction of the Atomic Bomb, and finally his McCarthy era downfall. Nolan jumps around these timelines quite frequently, whilst using black and white filming to note some timelines against others. But still a certain level of attention is needed to follow along as well as a basic understanding of both the history of the Manhattan Project and the McCarthyism that ran rampant in the US elite throughout the 1950’s, destroying many a career. The 3 hour running time also isn’t for the faint of heart, proven by the gentleman two seats over from me who was quite audibly snoring for around half the film.

Despite the aforementioned challenges, Oppenheimer is well and truly worth the effort. It’s so impressively shot and thoroughly gripping. The performance of Cillian Murphy in the titular role is impressive. Probably best known for his work in the television show Peaky Blinders, Murphy has taken his craft to impressive new levels. He is well supported however by a substantial cast, in fact you could almost be forgiven for thinking this is a Wes Anderson film for the amount of well known (and in many cases, A-list) cast members scattered throughout the film.  I spent at least 10% of the film quietly turning to my partner and whispering things such as ‘is that Gary Oldman’…or ‘is that the nerdy friend from 10 Things I Hate About You’? The most impressive of the supporting cast though would have to be Robert Downey Jr. as Oppenheimer’s employer turned nemesis Lewis Strauss, and Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife. It was a new turn for Blunt, who was convincing as the feisty yet depressed alcoholic, although it’s sad to note that of the very few female characters of substance throughout the film, almost all of them were tragic, flawed figures. There was also the jarring presence of Florence Pugh as another of Oppenheimer’s love interests. Nothing can be taken from Pugh’s performance (she was pitch perfect as usual), but I’m still yet to understand why her character needed to appear topless in multiple scenes despite serving no purpose to the plot. It felt more 2003 than 2023. Downey Jr. though really displayed his post-Marvel acting chops in a transformative performance, which I truly hope leads to more meaty, dramatic roles for him in future.

Perhaps the most distracting part of the film outside of Florence Pugh’s boobs (never thought I’d write that), would be the almost endless score. Of the 3 hour running time, about 2 hours and 57 minutes had Ludwig Göransson’s music pouring over it, making it feel like one ongoing montage. If this was a device to build towards the impact of the bomb going off, it was a lot of effort for very little payoff (which isn’t a reflection of the impactful scene, but just how unnecessary the score was for much of the film). There was also an opportunity to punch up the dialogue somewhat, which has never been Nolan’s strength as a writer, that being said, the effort was more than satisfactory.

Despite some of the issues of the film, the pure gravitas of Oppenheimer is something to behold. This is a masterclass in filmmaking and certainly lives up to its hype, which feels a rarity these days. The timing of its release is a curious one, given this has awards season fodder written all over it. Nolan surely gets an Oscar nom for directing and Cillian Murphy will be right up there with some of the best acting performances of the year. Usually these films are released later in the year, closer to the campaign, not often are they a US Summer release. Maybe the production team is hoping for a similar journey to last year’s juggernaut, Everything Everywhere All At Once, which was released fairly early in the year and relied heavily on positive word of mouth to get it across the line.  Oppenheimer is a film that should be experienced on the big screen, and might be one of the ones that you splurge a little for a Gold Class/Lux type experience given its substantial running time (get your money’s worth am I right?!). But whichever way you choose to view it, make sure that you do, it’s not one to be missed.

Oppenheimer is in cinemas now.