Oppenheimer: Movie Review

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr.
Director: Christopher Nolan

There is no doubting the cinematic mastery on display in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.

But there's also no shortage of existential dread either as this semi-loosely defined biopic details the rise and pilloried fall of the man dubbed the father of the atomic bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer.

Rather than choosing to go full-on biopic, Nolan's movie focuses on the period where Oppenheimer was recruited to help set up the atomic bomb race aka the Manhattan Project by the army (headed up by Matt Damon's gruff general Groves).

Murphy delivers a steely-eyed turn as the womanizer, communist sympathizer and troubled guilt-ridden creationist over a three hour period that delivers both incredible tension and abject horror in equal measure as it drops bombs both literal and existential.

Choosing to slot others into Oppenheimer's life works best for the film - but in truth, after an absolutely jaw-dropping sequence shows off the power of the atomic bomb test in Los Alamos, the last hour of Nolan's film delivers a more tempered conclusion as he juggles the guilt of the creator and history's attempts to write him out of the narrative.

Largely centring on long scenes of men talking, the final hour of Oppenheimer may test some who've already had their nerves shredded by earlier proceedings. But it's here the emotional heft comes into play - and potentially Oscar will come knocking for the likes of Robert Downey Jr's wily snake-like US cabinet hopeful Strauss and the haunted guilt-ridden Murphy, who leaves nothing out in his portrayal of singular vision and guilt.

Much like silence helped The Last Jedi, Nolan's deployment of utter quiet is skillfully deployed at the film's key moment. Whereas multiple shots could have shown the devastation, Nolan's desire to hold back and step inside the mind of his protagonist proves to be suitably deft, even if the celebrations that follow the success of the test feel utterly repugnant and like a gut punch.

Equally a follow up scene which mixes celebration and speech with horror proves to be particularly powerful thanks to Nolan's take and his lead actor.

There's much in this that requires full and proper attention, with most of it feeling theoretical throughout - but as Nolan peppers his soundscape by stepping inside Oppenheimer's mind. Yet he's not averse to adding some human conflict, chiefly in the form of Oppenheimer's romantic entanglements with Florence Pugh's Jean Tatlock and Emily Blunt's Kitty. 

But through it all, this is Murphy's film - an actor who gives it all both physically and mentally for a complex character. The final shot of the film will stay with many for a long time - a nightmarish conclusion to a cerebral and utterly terrifying prelude that show both man at his weakest and strongest.

Don't be surprised if this figures largely in Oscars when the time comes - Nolan has achieved one of his best films matched only by a cast that give their all and a subject matter that feels timely, confronting and haunting.