Oppenheimer review: Christopher Nolan balances expert direction with poignant storytelling

Oppenheimer perhaps has been the most anticipated release this summer. The tale of the 'American Prometheus' who laid the foundation of the atom bomb by fronting the Manhattan Project –  it's a story of paramount importance to humankind.
Taking place against the backdrop of World War II and beyond, Oppenheimer is about the hidden facets of a genius’ life. 

Just like J. Robert Oppenheimer's venture into quantum mechanics proliferates into the creation of the atom bomb – as detailed in the film – his political position gives rise to a bureaucratic war. This film, to say the least, is an experience of a lifetime – his lifetime.

3 things you need to know: 

• Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan's 13th feature film. 
• Actor Cillian Murphy plays the titular role in the film. 
• It's based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Hot Take

Oppenheimer is perhaps Christopher Nolan's best film. There are several core elements to his filmmaking – the non-linear storytelling, grand setpieces, and escalating music, that Nolan coalesces in Oppenheimer and refines to perfection. Apart from this, it's the first time Nolan has shown an extensive sex scene. It is also the first biography the British filmmaker has tackled. Not only does Nolan fine-tune his previous methods, but he also explores new avenues successfully.

(Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer | Image: Oppenheimermovie/Instagram)

Is Oppenheimer worth the hype?

Christopher Nolan, even at the time of Tenet's pandemic release, sparked a buzz. Oppenheimer, both in its historical significance and the massive weight of Nolan's filmmaking behind it is every bit worth the hype. 

The best aspect of Oppenheimer is its pace. With a runtime of 3 hours, the film risked becoming boring. Despite this, there is little to no redundancy in Oppenheimer. The film traverses through different timelines as it takes the viewers on a beguiling journey between uncertainty and drama. From the race to develop the atomic bomb before the Germans, on-and-off romance with a Communist party member, a marriage proposal made at a dinner party, inner turmoil, a courtroom drama, men with egos at war, and espionage to a genius paying a price for his invention, in Oppenheimer, Nolan ups the ante as he craftily plays with form and genre.

(Matt Damon as Colonel Leslie Graves in Oppenheimer | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

Concept of Time

Nolan, with years of filmmaking experience and expertise, marvellously traces Oppenheimer's journey from his time at Caltech and UC Berkley, his involvement in the Manhattan Project, his love affair with the Communist party member Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) to the closed-door administrative hearings about his security clearance. 

Time is an important element in Oppenheimer, much like in all of Nolan's films including Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), and Tenet (2020). While in his previous films, Nolan has used the concept of time as manipulation, illusion, deception and even as a weapon, in Oppenheimer, the filmmaker artfully uses it to create two simple timelines -- first from the perspective of Oppenheimer representing subjective experience and the second, in black and white, a more objective standpoint from Lewis Strauss, a champion of the developer of the hydrogen bomb. 

Apart from time, dialogues play a key role in the film. They provide a blueprint for the film’s editing accomplished by Jennifer Lame. In all of the scenes that go back and forth in time, dialogues are crafted with an intent that there is a contextual link that makes the transition seamless. 

Visual spectacle without the CGI

The Memento filmmaker explained in a recent interview that he wanted to accomplish challenging visuals without the use of CGI. This has been his style since the days of Inception and Interstellar. In these previous films, Nolan used actual setpieces and enhanced them visually by adding elements to the production rather than shooting the scene against chroma. Oppenheimer does not deviate from this principle. For the detonation (Trinity test) scene, Nolan created small explosions and shot them up close to make them seem massive. 

(A poster for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

Not just the detonation scene, but also the scenes where Cillian Murphy as a young Oppenheimer studying in England and Germany is imagining theoretical models, the internal working of the bomb, quantum theory, and chain reaction through nuclear fusion – everything is visually spectacular and believable.

The surreal depiction of Oppenheimer's guilt 

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a man of great intellect as well as charm. This has been showcased by the incredible performance of Cillian Murphy. Every fibre of his being can be seen laid bare on the screen in the guise of Oppenheimer during the film. But when the film takes a dark turn after the events of the bombing of Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we see the physicist being triumphant on the surface but horrified on the inside.

The guilt is piercing and is showcased with a combination of quick close-up shots paired with visual effects. This unveils the psyche of Oppenheimer as a man horrified with what he’d done by pursuing scientific excellence. 

(A still from Oppenheimer featuring Cillian Murphy | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

The Manhattan Project, three years and $2 billion later, hands a smoking gun to the U.S. Government, which arrays a dark chapter for humanity. When Oppenheimer speaks with Colonel Graves (Matt Damon) about what they’re going to do with the atomic bomb, he replies with, “Robert, we've given them the ace. It's up to them to play the hand.” 

Moreover, Robert J. Oppenheimer, who had developed the very bomb that claimed thousands of lives, was left out of the loop when the bomb was detonated. He got to know of the bombings in Japan 16 hours after the detonation. There is plenty in the film that shows his inner turmoil.

Oppenheimer's interest in Hindu texts was also an added dimension to his character. His study of Sanskrit, as well as the Bhagwad Gita poetically melded with the film. During a scene, Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer says, "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." While he says it during a scene in the past, it serves to reference his eventual invention of the atomic bomb and its dire consequences.

(Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

An excellent ensemble cast

Oppenheimer tells a story that is already well-known. Richard Feynman, Lewis Strauss, Albert Einstein, Edward Teller, and Neils Bohr – are well-known academic personalities from the pages of history. 

This is exactly why an ensemble cast for Oppenheimer was imperative. Every single point is driven home when Rami Malek, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr or Benny Safdie are the ones delivering them. Downey Jr delivers a fine performance as Lewis Strauss -- the man on a mission to destroy Oppenheimer's credibility, while director-actor Safdie turns out to be another whirlwind in the mix. The importance of these historic characters was elevated when their lines were said by powerful personalities who delivered them with the gravity they deserved.

(Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh are the only two female actresses in the cast, and they both embody the vulnerabilities of their characters perfectly. Kitty Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock are characters who are distressed and in pain. Blunt and Pugh convey that convincingly in the film and deliver powerful performances in high-stake circumstances.

While Kenneth Branagh as the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, Gary Oldman as President Harry S Truman and Tom Conti as Albert Einstein deliver scene-stealing performances, actor Rami Malek in an important cameo grabs attention.

Watch it or skip it?

Oppenheimer is the emerald in Nolan’s crown. While it runs long, it doesn’t stop peeling off layers from its narrative until its end. While remaining a $100 million budget film, there is always the sense that the film is very much rooted in the life of the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb.’

The Bottomline

Oppenheimer turns out to be the magnum opus from Nolan at a time when he had already delivered so many of them before. It’s seamlessly long, poignant yet beautiful, and despite being a story about dry subjects, has a definitive heart.

(Rating 4.5/5)

(The review has been co-authored by Mugdha Kapoor)