‘Oppenheimer’: Review

Dir: Christopher Nolan. US. 2023. 180mins

An enigma stands at the centre of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s engrossing drama that is as much about American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as it is the terrifying new world he birthed. Running three hours and anchored by a riveting, prickly performance from Cillian Murphy, the film weaves together elements of the courtroom procedural, the Cold War thriller and the character study, leaving the mysteries of ‘the father of the atomic bomb’ fascinatingly unsolved. Nolan demonstrates his usual prowess for impeccable visuals and stunning craftsmanship within a deeply despairing portrait of an arrogant genius who, too late, realised the impact of his monstrous creation.

Weaves together elements of the courtroom procedural, the Cold War thriller and the character study

Universal unveils Oppenheimer on July 21 in the UK and US, and strong reviews may help a picture that is, thematically at least, far from a commercial sure-thing. Nolan’s track record will be an enticement — as will a supporting cast that includes stars and Oscar-winners — although this adult-skewing period picture (based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus) lacks the blockbuster action of Inception or Dunkirk. Yet, with Barbie also opening on the same day, the online hype surrounding “Barbenheimer” should juice theatrical grosses, with awards nominations seemingly a certainty down the road.

Murphy stars as the infamous physicist as the film focuses on two crucial periods: one, during the 1940s, when Oppenheimer leads the Manhattan Project, which produces the first atomic weapon; and later, during the 1950s, when he deals with the emotional and political fallout of his history-making discovery. Working with editor Jennifer Lame, Nolan moves back and forth chronologically, dramatising these time periods as well as a tense 1950s hearing regarding the renewal of Oppenheimer’s US security clearance, and a Cabinet confirmation for Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.); a member of the Atomic Energy Commission whose connection to Oppenheimer will become an important plot point.

Screened for critics in 70mm IMAX, Oppenheimer is wondrous to behold, Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography providing the film with a large-canvas grandeur that amplifies the stakes of Oppenheimer’s quest to develop atomic weapons. A brilliant Jewish scientist whose ego is matched only by his anger at the Nazi murder of his people during the Second World War, Oppenheimer believes that the US must create these weapons before the Germans do — although his intellectual curiosity about communism makes some, including the blustery Lt General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), who recruits him to run the Manhattan Project, suspicious. 

Murphy effortlessly conveys Oppenheimer’s serene superiority — his unflappable confidence that he is the smartest man in any room he enters — but, at the same time, there’s a chilly unknowability to him that intrigues. Watching Oppenheimer, viewers may be tempted to draw connections between the titular protagonist and Nolan, who is often accused of constructing icily intelligent pictures that are emotionally lacking. Whether or not that criticism of Nolan is fair, Oppenheimer exudes a subtle poignancy in its depiction of a man tragically seduced by his own purported greatness.

Tellingly, once Oppenheimer attracts America’s best scientists to assist him in the Manhattan Project, travelling out to the vast, empty deserts of New Mexico to conduct their dangerous nuclear tests, Oppenheimer de-emphasises the sequence’s inherent excitement, instead presenting the proceedings with a grim sense of impending doom. There’s no thrill to Oppenheimer’s discoveries — even the much-anticipated scene of the detonation of the first atomic bomb is more ominous than electrifying — as Nolan observes this stoic genius’s gradual recognition that he has made the world a more dangerous place, no matter his rationalisations to the contrary.

Murphy’s withholding, haughty performance echoes Daniel Day-Lewis’ more demonstratively bullheaded turn in There Will Be Blood, another deeply critical portrait of so-called American exceptionalism. Unfortunately, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh are stranded in underwritten roles as, respectively, Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty and his former lover Jean. Meant to challenge his elevated view of himself, these female characters barely have enough screen time to register — which is especially irksome since both women end up having significant emotional beats that underwhelm. 

Far more compelling is Damon as Oppenheimer’s foil during the Manhattan Project, his combative brashness nicely clashing with the physicist’s unruffled cool. And Downey Jr. relishes his turn as a savvy political animal with a different sort of intelligence than Oppenheimer — one that proves superior when navigating the corridors of power. 

Nolan has no illusions about his main character, painting him as a difficult, not especially warm figure. But there is room for empathy as well. Scapegoated by enterprising politicians during the Red Scare that swept America in the aftermath of the Second World War, this loyal patriot was branded a communist sympathiser and learnt just how little his nation thought of him once he tried to warn against the dangers of nuclear proliferation. But the film’s complicated feelings about the man are never simplified or resolved — creating a wary tension that feels terribly similar to the lingering dread that our planet’s fragile atomic standoff could give way to total destruction at any moment. J. Robert Oppenheimer died 55 years ago, but his legacy still haunts us.