Oppenheimer stands as the most peculiar summer blockbuster to hit theatres in years. It’s a three-hour ensemble drama about burden: the burden of genius, expectations, and the guilt of creating a weapon capable of annihilating humanity.
Obviously, this isn’t the type of summer movie that you’ll see cross-promoted on a Happy Meal. But if there’s one filmmaker capable of driving viewers into theatres for a 180-minute serving of existential dread, it’s Christopher Nolan. Nolan is one of the few remaining directors with enough clout to pack theatres for any screening with their name plastered on the marquee.
Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as the film’s titular character, the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The story is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer is recognized as the father of the atomic bomb, and the film centres on him joining the Manhattan Project during a must-win race against the Nazis to create the world’s first nuclear weapon.
In typical Nolan fashion, the film leaps back and forth in time, honing in on the defining moments in Oppenheimer’s life and career. The three-hour running time gives Nolan ample time to focus on Oppenheimer’s crucial role in launching the nuclear arms race, and how he dealt with the emotional toll of unleashing a weapon of mass destruction upon the world.
The constant time jumps, sprawling cast of characters, and technical jargon-heavy dialogue make Oppenheimer hard to follow. At a certain point, I just stopped trying to wrap my mind around all the details and allowed myself to go along for the ride.
Love his intense and cerebral style or hate it, Nolan’s status as a master filmmaker is undeniable. His movies come off like what would happen if someone put a Terminator through film school. He approaches his craft with obsessive attention to detail and ruthless precision of an AI, a process which translates to cinematic majesty.
I find the ideas in Nolan’s films more compelling than the characters themselves. I appreciate the complexity of the themes he explores, but I find his characters and their worlds too cold and his clockwork plot mechanics almost clinical.
If you’re a Nolan die-hard, prepare for three hours of cinematic bliss. Oppenheimer presents the auteur working in top form. But this film’s three-hour runtime may prove challenging if you aren’t a fan of Dunkirk and Tenet.
That being said, Nolan’s technical mastery of his craft often leaves me in awe.
His use of sound, composition, and editing creates breathtaking sequences that I enjoy more than his films as a whole.
Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema’s stunning photography magnificently conveys the grandeur of this turning point in human history. From the elemental beauty of the dusty New Mexico plains to the crimson fury of an atomic explosion, the visual palette engulfs the audience in cosmic wonder and nihilistic dread, all in the span of a few moments.
Composer Ludwig Göransson‘s spectral score complements the visuals, intensifying the relentless tension. The ethereal sound design adds to the feeling of drifting through Oppenheimer’s mind, creating an immersive and haunting experience.
Oppenheimer is the role Murphy was born to play. He’s equal parts magnetic and mystifying. Even after the credits hit, I couldn’t get the character’s cold, haunted eyes out of my head. Murphy plays a man with the world’s weight on his shoulders, and his wrought performance makes you feel Oppenheimer’s soul shattering piece by piece. Murphy’s a shoo-in for Best Actor nominations this award season.
I could spend all day writing about the film’s powerhouse cast. Every actor in the picture delivers first-class work, but it’s Robert Downey Jr.’s scheming portrayal of Lewis Strauss that separates him from the pack. Downey Jr. hands-down delivers the most refined performance of his career.
Oppenheimer is the rare summer movie that is both epic in scope and elegant in its execution. This biopic about the man at the heart of the nuclear arms race encompasses the beauty and the wretchedness ingrained into the human condition. The film serves as a cutting reminder that despite all humanity’s towering achievements, we’re still our own worst enemy.
It’s been said that there’s a thin line between genius and insanity; Oppenheimer spotlights the man walking that razor-thin line. We watch a conflicted character wrestle with the burden of handing over god-like power to petty men prone to child-like wrath. In its portrayal of these complex themes, Oppenheimer stands as the most terrifying movie I’ve seen this year.
I’ve spent my entire moviegoing life leaving screenings wishing elements of the cinematic worlds I visited weren’t only fiction. But after watching Oppenheimer, I left the theatre shaken to my core. For the first time, I left a screening yearning for this real-life story to be a work of fiction, a haunting testament to the impact of Nolan’s latest cinematic epic.
Let me know your thoughts about Oppenheimer on Twitter and in the comments below. If you enjoyed this review, please help out the site by sharing it on social media. And keep coming back to VSR for new reviews, interviews, and videos.
