Perhaps one of the most anticipated films of 2023, Christopher Nolan has been given a huge budget and creative freedom for what might be considered his masterpiece. Oppenheimer makes for perfect cinema, an art-filled blockbuster that should reel in most film lovers and also general audiences.
Cillian Murphy is an uncanny Robert Oppenheimer, the gaunt, wistful facial features perfectly met here. It’s the subtle passions Murphy brings that enthral, even as we reach the murky waters of the execution of his invention, the atomic bomb; the guilt, the subdued emotional canvas Murphy displays is impressive, and will surely bring award nominations. The film also fares well in the depiction of Oppenheimer’s mental state after the bombings of Japan, brought an official end to World War II. We as an audience decide the moral quandary of his creation and those who took it from him for their own use.
Much has been said about the IMAX presentation and the new cameras used for Oppenheimer. Nolan loves blurry visions, telling close-ups and a complete lack of aftereffects. There is much attractive filmmaking to be had here: some snazzy, fluttery atomic shots show Oppenheimer in flux about his craft. Still, the hipster in me was more impressed with David Lynch’s out-of-leftfield use of the atomic bomb test in the return of Twin Peaks, an episode no one ever forgot. The music of Ludwig Göransson varies from lush meditation to moments which roar over the cinema, with crescendos and outbursts washing over you.
Out of the supporting cast, Robert Downey Jr triumphs as Lewis Strauss, who flip-flops over his support for Oppenheimer, leading to court hearings during the communist witch hunts. Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh add a much-needed female presence in this manly film, finely suited in the firm wife and sultry mistress roles respectively. Tom Conti’s Einstein ties into a flashback seen again at the end, and Matt Damon – as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves – is a cantankerous, funny authority figure who underlines the difference between the military’s treatment of the Manhattan Project and that of the scientists who helped create it. Josh Hartnett is most commonly associated with teen romance flicks, but Ernest Lawrence is very adult, and a swell addition to the cast. A few cameos from familiar faces come and go, some effective and some less so.
If Oppenheimer’s 180-minute length was expected, it still amounts to a bit of a slog. I constantly compared it to an Oliver Stone feature (most obviously JFK or Nixon), where so much politics and history is conveyed through the dialogue it practically induces whiplash. Still, the result is gripping, and staying at least one step behind gave me a good footing. I had reservations over Nolan’s infamous decisions to dampen parts of dialogue: I’ve rarely craved subtitles for an English-language film, but the score and sound effects engulf some scenes. Nevertheless, Oppenheimer is big, ballsy cinema which commands your attention this summer.
Dir: Christopher Nolan (15, 180 mins)
Oppenheimer is in cinemas now
words JAMES ELLIS
