Oppenheimer: Film Review
After working with Christopher Nolan multiple times in a supporting capacity, Cillian Murphy has been upgraded to the lead role for the first time in Oppenheimer.
This biographical film tells the story of famed scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy), who brought quantum physics to his native U.S. after studying abroad. He agrees to lead the Manhattan Project and urges the world’s top physicists to relocate to Los Alamos, the purpose-built town in New Mexico, to create America’s first atomic bomb during WWII.
Oppenheimer is a dense, dialogue-heavy thriller that is essentially (if I’m being reductive) three hours of white men talking in rooms about physics. Yet, somehow, Nolan has managed to make it utterly fascinating. A sequence of hearings towards the end does go on a bit too long but it is never anything less than compelling, when it could have easily been dry and dull. It is even thrilling at times, thanks to clever editing and the spot-on sound design.
As we should all know by now, Nolan doesn’t like to present his films in a linear way – that would be far too straightforward. The narrative jumps around in Oppenheimer’s timeline a lot and I must admit I found it hard to keep track of the chronological order of his story. There are decent stretches where it settles down though and the choppy editing ultimately makes sense and pays off in a profound way at the very end.
The crown jewel of Oppenheimer is, of course, the Trinity Test, where they discover whether their atomic bomb works or not (this is in the trailer). Even though you know how it pans out (it’s in the history books), it is still exhilarating. Nolan really sets the thrill dial up to 100 with that sequence and the explosion, which was done practically, is quite the cinematic experience.
After that, the film becomes more introspective as Oppenheimer tries to reconcile his breakthrough invention with the mass destruction it has caused in Japan. Nolan does well in delving into the psyche of someone wrestling with their legacy and Murphy is outstanding as a man haunted by his own creation. His performance is powerful throughout, but he floored me nearer the end.
There are so many famous faces in this movie and some only pop up for a scene or two – that’s the power of Nolan. It’s helpful actually because it’s really hard to keep track of everybody’s names because there are so many characters. Matt Damon is a major player as Oppenheimer’s boss Leslie Groves and Robert Downey Jr. stands out as Lewis Strauss, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The refreshing role helps him break free from his trademark wise guy schtick and proves he’s still got more to offer.
I have some misgivings about the female characters though. Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh are both very good as Oppenheimer’s love interests but they don’t get enough to do. Blunt’s character Kitty clearly has issues of her own but these are never explored and Pugh is shockingly underused. It’s a real shame their talents were wasted here.
With impressive cinematography, score, sound design and editing, Oppenheimer shows Nolan at the height of his powers technically. It’s not up there with The Prestige, The Dark Knight or Inception, but it’s still another incredible movie in his filmography.
In cinemas from Friday 21st July