Oppenheimer is a soaring, melancholy explosion that shows Nolan at his best

Universal Pictures

I’ve heard the complaint that Christopher Nolan can be too cold or technical, without any real emotionality or heart — and that his movies are far too confusing. I’d say that the only real fair example of that is Tenet, where we didn’t really connect to the main characters at all and the stakes were the end of the world or something. But I don’t know how you can’t argue that love, in one way or another, is at the center of Interstellar or Inception despite the heady concepts — and it’s that emotion that pulls it all together, in a world that you care about as much as our own. And especially when it’s our own.

Oppenheimer is written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from the biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer written by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, and stars common Nolan contributor Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppnenheimer as we watch the most important moments of his life.

The film plays a little with time, essentially cutting between two trials shown in black and white, one that is revealed to be the hearing against Oppenheimer post-war about his alleged Communist leanings, and the other is after that where we follow Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr., giving a career high performance), the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in the midst of his congressional hearing to be appointed Secretary of Commerce.

But these two details are revealed eventually, the context for the true tale of Oppenheimer and his rise to lead the Manhattan Project, these scenes are done in full color. The movie is a sharp three hours long, but it is absolutely packed with details — and you feel like you could be watching still more, except that the ending packs such a tremendously powerful punch, I don’t think it could’ve ended any other way.

The cast of real life (and one created character for the movie played by Alden Ehrenreich) people is played by a murderer’s row of fantastic leading and character actors. It would spoil some to reveal it all, but of initial note are Emily Blunt as wife Kitty, and Florence Pugh as his mistress/girlfriend Jean Tatlock — both are excellent here, asked to portray the sorts of female characters we don’t often see in Nolan films, but fully realized and complex.

Universal Pictures

As mentioned, Robert Downey Jr. is a charismatic monster in his part, with Tom Conti playing the seldom-seen but critical role of Einstein and handling it with ease, Josh Hartnett and Benny Safdie playing interesting scientists and colleagues, Matt Damon as the sole military man and sort of ‘regular’ person, and David Krumholtz (who’s been killing it since Addams Family Values if we’re honest) as Robert’s dear friend and fellow physicist Isidor Robi. And of course, Cillian Murphy is astounding in the titular role, playing Oppenheimer at times with arrogance and then again with astonishing grief, as the camera lingers on his face in close-ups that draw you in and build up the tension.

The tension is also expertly built up to the inevitable moment of the first nuclear test, and rarely do we get to see science portrayed so excitingly — this is helped by stellar cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema and a haunting, ‘get under your skin’ level of great score from the highly talented Ludwig Göransson, replacing Hans Zimmer as Nolan’s typical partner as Zimmer was too busy scoring Dune: Part Two — and to be fair, that’s crucial as the first Dune he scored was one of his very best scores.

The movie does take a bit of time to get going, and it also takes a bit of time to realize what’s tying all of these scenes together, but once you’re in that final act and the bomb is inevitable, it’s an emotional, bombastic roller coaster until the finale, which is intimate in exactly the right ways. It’s a hard one to beat, even with Nolan’s great track record — for me The Dark Knight still tops this one, but considering what he’s done, the fact that this ranks in the top three means a lot from my perspective. If you can manage to hold in your bladder for the runtime (or take a quick bathroom break about 40 minutes in ideally) then this one is a must-see.

Note: We support the current WGA/SAG strike and emphasize the importance of writers and actors and ensuring they and fellow creatives are compensated and treated fairly for their work. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Oppenheimer has a run time of 3 hours, and is rated 3 hours, and is rated R for some sexuality, nudity and language.

Universal Pictures