“I believe we did.”

As funny as it sounds, this was the least surprising five-star movie that I’ve ever watched. I went in expecting masterclass filmmaking, because after all, it swept all of the awards that season, and that is exactly what I got. I really do love Christopher Nolan as a filmmaker, but I also have to admit that while I do thoroughly enjoy his usual approach to storytelling, with telling things out of order or having extreme concepts, I’m not as crazy about it as a lot of other people are. However, I do plan on rewatching and watching for the first time most, if not all of Nolan’s filmography before The Odyssey comes out, and I really hope this section of this review ages poorly afterwards. We’ll see.

On to the film itself, Oppenheimer is just one of those rare films that keeps you absolutely locked in from start to finish, with quite literally no pacing issues whatsoever. There is this huge amount of tension and dread because, since this is based on extremely well-known real historical events, the weight that comes with the story about the development of an atomic bomb made to end a war feels even heavier than it would if it were fictional. The atomic bomb, while it did pretty much end World War II, also killed hundreds of thousands of people, including innocent civilians. Its use was one of the biggest dilemmas in history, so it had the potential to create an incredible story, and who else would we rather see tell that story than Christopher Nolan himself?

Assuming you don’t live under a rock, Oppenheimer is in fact about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who headed the creation of the atomic bomb. He is played by Cillian Murphy, who won best actor for this role, and very deservedly so. Not only do I think that this is the best performance of 2023, but I think it is the best one of the entire decade thus far. It’s a brilliantly subtle performance that honestly has little to no flashy moments, but that’s what makes it so impactful. I will get into the actual character himself in just a second, but just the way Murphy portrays a person who goes from being an incredibly ambitious physicist to a deeply troubled one because of the events he played a role in is incredible. Even when he’s not talking, you see the absolutely messed-up mental state that this man is going through, and it’s all because of Cillian.

Not only is J. Robert Oppenheimer portrayed really well, but his story is written for the big screen in incredible fashion. I don’t really know how accurately this biopic depicts him, and I honestly don’t care a whole lot to find out because whether or not it’s accurate doesn’t change the fact that he’s a very complex and intriguing character here. He very much fits into that “morally gray” area of characters, where I would say his heart was mostly in the right place, while also being incredibly flawed. He’s definitely overly ambitious at the beginning, and one of the biggest things, a womanizer who caused lots of damage to his family. What makes him compelling, though, is his very clear reluctance and lack of truly wanting to do this job. It’s a very interesting situation, where any choice he would have made would have also inevitably caused a great deal of problems. He had to choose from either not creating the atomic bomb at all and risk the Nazis making one themselves, where they would have inevitably caused significantly more devastation than what actually happened, or, well, choosing what actually happened by going forward with development and causing the deaths of many, but ending the war and most definitely saving more than would have been saved otherwise. His decision is fleshed out well so that you completely understand why he chose what he did. Not to get too deep into spoilers (this is a spoiler-free review after all), but the explanation for why the U.S. had to actually use the bomb instead of just testing it in front of Japan answered all the questions I had.

Not only is Cillian great, but he is surrounded by one of the most stacked casts in movie history. This could have honestly been distracting, because there is a ridiculous amount of A-list actors in this movie, but it surprisingly works because of the time period and how well everyone fits their roles. I’m not going to talk about everyone, because if I did, we’d be here for a while, so I’ll just dive into the ones that stood out to me personally.

Robert Downey Jr. is absolutely incredible as Lewis Strauss, a man who plays a huge role in Oppenheimer’s life, mainly towards the end of the film (Downey Jr. won best supporting actor for this, just to mention). I don’t want to dive too deep into his character, but as he becomes a lot more complex towards the end, Downey Jr. pulls off some of the best, I don’t even really know how to word it, “reactionary” acting as he becomes more and more stressed over what is going on in both the world and especially to him. Matt Damon is also fantastic here, and is essentially a scene stealer every time he pops up on screen, and also helps to add a little bit of levity to everything. The last two actors I will briefly mention here are Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh, who play the two women who have relations with Oppenheimer. Their stress, depression, and loss of control not only show off their best acting talents, but also further Oppenheimer’s complexity. Everyone else is great: Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, David Dastmalchian, Alden Ehrenreich (as I said, this cast is unbelievably stacked), but again, I don’t want this review to be ridiculously long.

Back to the story a bit, something significant happens at almost exactly the two-hour mark, and honestly, I looked at the fact that there was still an hour left, and I was a little worried that the film was going to overstay its welcome a little bit. Thankfully, it absolutely doesn’t. The final stretch is much less about the spectacle of everything and more about the psychological turmoil that this situation is causing for not only Oppenheimer himself, but everyone, and this is where you truly see the actors show off just how good they are. While this third of the film is the least “spectacular,” not in terms of quality but in terms of visuals and that sort, the tension and suspense refuse to let up even for a bit. There are some incredible scenes that visually tell us how messed up Oppenheimer is from everything, as this becomes much more of a psychological movie than it was previously, and they are undeniably some of the most memorable, shocking, and downright disturbing scenes of the entire film. It also ends in one of the most messed-up and “stick with you” scenes that I’ve ever seen. It’s safe to say that all my worries about the final hour were completely in vain.

Now that I’ve covered a bunch of the story aspects, I just want to praise the actual filmmaking going on here. Oppenheimer showcases some of the best practical effects you will probably ever see, because they truly are so convincing that it feels like you’re watching something truly real from the actual bomb tests that took place. Another thing that really stood out to me was how amazingly edited everything was. This is another Nolan movie that has scenes that don’t play in chronological order, and they are meshed together so well and give you answers at just the right time that you need them. Adding a little bit more to that, the editing completely maximises the impact of the dramatic scenes with Oppenheimer, with some incredible sound design to add even more to it. To describe the sound design, it is full of moments that are extremely loud, even in quieter scenes, which only help the shock value and psychological impact of the story hit all that much harder.

Oppenheimer was also composed by Ludwig Göransson, who I wasn’t completely on board with beforehand (nothing against him, I just hadn’t heard anything from him yet that really amazed me), but I sure am now. I don’t want to repeat myself yet again, but his score does a lot of the same work that the sound design does in furthering the tension to an absolute extreme, especially during the test scenes, which, by the way, the main test scene is one of the most heart pounding sequences I’ve ever seen. Anyways, the absolute standout to me is work that was also included in the trailer if I can remember correctly, and is also aided by sound design. There is this sound of footsteps that is used a number of times, and it’s easy to say that those were easily the most disturbing and shocking scenes of the entire movie. It’s extremely loud and drains out a lot of the real-life noise, and almost sounds like a freight train passing by. If you haven’t seen the movie or the trailers, I would highly recommend watching the trailer labeled “New Trailer,” as the end of it really showcases a lot of what I’m talking about.

So far, this is Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, in my opinion. It’s a film without flaws that will undoubtedly be talked about for decades to come.