Oppenheimer is an unforgettable experience with a never-better Cillian Murphy
Oppenheimer feels like the movie that Christopher Nolan was always destined to make: a biopic about one of the world's most famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) theoretical physicists, J Robert Oppenheimer.
The likes of Tenet and Interstellar saw Nolan use theoretical physics to make original sci-fi movies that get the pulse racing and engage your brain. Sometimes they engaged the brain so much that the brain actually hurt and the movies didn't quite hold together, but in Oppenheimer, Nolan gets to work with real-world physics – and still make your brain hurt a bit.
In any other hands, a three-hour biopic about the "father of the atomic bomb" would sound like a bore. In Nolan's hands, however, it transforms into a biopic as a thriller, a countdown to a moment that genuinely could have ended the world and had ramifications that continue today.
Oppenheimer ends up being a bit too sprawling for its own good, but it's still a towering achievement and an unforgettable experience, led by a career-best performance from Cillian Murphy.
Unsurprisingly, Oppenheimer is no standard 'cradle to the grave' biopic, something you could assume would be anathema to Nolan. The master of structural playfulness, Nolan tells J Robert Oppenheimer's story from two viewpoints, switching back and forth throughout.
The first timeline ("Fission") plays out in colour and centres on Oppenheimer's past, the build-up to the Trinity Test and beyond. The second ("Fusion") plays out in black and white and takes place in the late 1950s, mostly centred on Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr) and his fraught relationship with Oppenheimer.
By Nolan's standards, it's a relatively straightforward structure. There are so many characters and weighty issues at play, though, that it can be dizzying, especially as Nolan gives us little and throws us right into the action.
Reuniting with Tenet editor Jennifer Lame, Nolan makes Oppenheimer feel like the fastest three-hour movie ever and it's expertly edited. There's so much to condense, though, that it's almost inevitable some aspects get short-changed, especially Oppenheimer's relationship with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh).
Minor complaints aside, Oppenheimer is still an astonishing technical feat and an immersive theatrical experience like no other this year. It's not just the epic scale of the IMAX-filmed cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema, it's every part of the craft that makes it a true cinematic event.
You might wonder how the Trinity Test could really compel, given we know how it all plays out. But when Oppenheimer gets to it, you'll really end up wondering if it will destroy the world as all aspects, from the ominous score by Ludwig Göransson to the inventive practical effects come to a breathtaking crescendo.
All the technical brilliance would mean nothing without the human at the centre of it: in Cillian Murphy, Nolan found the ideal fit for Oppenheimer's enigmatic personality, especially as the physicist wrestles with the moral dilemmas involved in what he was trying to achieve.
It's a challenging role that asks a lot of Murphy, but he's sensational. Nolan doesn't want to tell you what to think about Oppenheimer, and Murphy brings all the various aspects of Oppenheimer's personality into a compelling whole. Some of the most striking sequences are the simplest, such as an extreme close-up of Murphy's face as Oppenheimer weighs up the haunting aspects of what he's done.
Oppenheimer is definitely Murphy's movie, but there is strong support among the extensive cast. Lewis Strauss is Robert Downey Jr's meatiest role in some time, nuanced and unpredictable (especially if you don't know the story), while Emily Blunt is excellent as Kitty Oppenheimer, every bit his equal but dealing with the frustrations of the era.
There are other notable turns, including Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr, director of the Manhattan Project, and Benny Safdie as Edward Teller, a fellow theoretical physicist who doesn't always agree with Oppenheimer's viewpoint.
There are so many characters, in fact, that not everybody can make an impact. This becomes more apparent as the movie goes past the Trinity Test to what happened to Oppenheimer after it. Characters who had minor appearances from the Fission timeline end up having a big impact in the Fusion timeline, but so much has passed that you could struggle to remember who they were.
Given the subject matter Nolan is dealing with, it's a remarkable achievement that he's even managed to condense American Prometheus (the book it's based on) into a cohesive movie. You won't exactly come out of it knowing theoretical physics, but it's told so expertly that you will be able to have an opinion.
And Oppenheimer is absolutely a movie that you'll want to discuss and chew over for days after first viewing. It's an absorbing and spectacular watch first and foremost, but also one that provokes you to think about the big, weighty topics that arose from Oppenheimer changing the world.
Christopher Nolan certainly won't give you the answers, but in Oppenheimer, he has given you a theatrical experience like no other filmmaker can.
Oppenheimer is out now in cinemas.
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