‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds...’
Cinema has possibly never been in a more precarious state than it is now. The rise of streaming services, the cost of living crisis, the constant stream of superhero movies, the lack of original ideas and now the writer’s/actor’s strike. Films such as The Banshees of Inisherin may go some way to restoring our faith in what cinema can achieve, but that doesn’t always translate to mainstream success. We have needed a film that we can get behind as a cinematic community for a long while now. A film that is challenging, artistic, passionate and creative but still accessible to a mainstream audience. A film that demands to be seen in the cinema but not because it is part of some tiresome multiverse that requires a knowledge of ten other films before you step through the door. A film to remind everyone of the power of cinema. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Oppenheimer…
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is a world-renowned theoretical physicist who is drafted into the Manhattan Project by no-nonsense army general Leslie Groves (Matt Damon). With his volatile and headstrong wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) by his side, ‘Oppy’ must wrestle with the moral implications of creating a weapon that could end all wars but could also end life as we know it. This is offset against the efforts of corrupt politician Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) to discredit and destroy Oppenheimer in a future timeline.
The fact that the previous paragraph barely covers half of the overall plot of Oppenheimer is a testament to the web that Christopher Nolan has weaved here. I could’ve mentioned Oppenheimer’s mistress Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), or the public prosecutor (Jason Clarke) who accused him of being disloyal or the litany of other scientists that either fell in line behind Oppenheimer or betrayed him (Kenneth Branagh, Jack Quaid, James D’Arcy etc etc). I could’ve mentioned all of that and still not gotten around to Albert goddamn Einstein (Tom Conti). Crucially, despite all these disparate plot elements and timeline jumps, Oppenheimer retains its clarity. This is not another Tenet. The purpose of this film is clear and it is executed perfectly.
Allow me to be frank, this is Nolan’s best film since Inception and possibly his best film period. I was emotionally exhausted by the end, to the point where it has taken hours for me to decompress. I still haven’t fully absorbed Oppenheimer. This is the kind of film that challenges the viewer, forces us to consider the implications of what we are presented with on screen. Murphy is phenomenal. His twitching, shell-shocked portrayal of the eponymous scientist will go down as one of the great performances. Elsewhere, Damon provides some emotional warmth and comic relief so sorely missing from many of Nolan’s other works. Blunt is a force of nature throughout. Pugh is as emotionally damaged as she’s ever been. This is a film in which everyone is firing on all cylinders, helped out by possibly Nolan’s best screenplay (written alongside Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin) and Ludwig Göransson’s screeching, horror film-inspired score.
Despite being three hours long, this film flew by for me. Indeed, it is unbearably tense for much of its run time and I was on the edge of my seat throughout. For all his flaws in previous movies, when he is good, Nolan is probably the best director working in Hollywood today. This film is a masterpiece. I implore you, dear reader, to see it at a cinema.