This review of Oppenheimer was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The ForReel team would like to acknowledge that without the dedicated efforts of the writers and actors who are currently on strike, films such as this would not be possible.

12/12 ForReel Score | 5/5 Stars

If there is a word that best describes Christopher Nolan's films, that word might be “overwhelming”

I do not offer this as a criticism, but rather, a statement of fact. His films are big in every sense of the word, capturing larger-than-life personalities, immersive sound, and visuals that –whether you love or hate him– you will not soon be able to forget. Oppenheimer is no exception.

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an outsized and outspoken personality. As a theoretical physicist and the architect of the nuclear bomb, he ushered in a new age of humankind and then, after gazing at what he had created, famously lobbied against the further proliferation of nuclear arms. He went from hero to pariah seemingly overnight. This film, adapting the book American Prometheus by authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, tells the whole story of the man on his journey from a wide-eyed naive scientist who believed the threat of having the bomb would be enough to end all war to a broken man forced to watch as his creation used to reshape the world.

Fans of Nolan's work will not be surprised that he accomplishes this with multiple overlapping narratives. The first follows Oppenheimer from his early university days to the Trinity test, the second is the security hearing that followed a few years later and left him in disgrace, and the third follows the confirmation hearing of Lewis Strauss, a key figure in the Atomic Energy Commission later nominated for Secretary of Commerce in 1959.

Each of these stories tells a distinct part of the story and illuminates the others as they proceed in true Nolan fashion. They don't come together to form as satisfying a catharsis as perhaps prior efforts like Inception or Dunkirk do, but rest assured that this is still a film that will leave you haunted and thinking for days and weeks to come.

Also, in true Nolan fashion, the film is made with minimal digital effects. Nolan, after all, is the man who blew up a 747 and flipped an 18-wheeler truck, and now he is the man who recreated a nuclear explosion. The entire film is immaculately shot and constructed, with each piece falling into place like clockwork, and one stretch of the movie, in particular leading up to the Trinity detonation, is one of the most suspenseful and successful pieces of filmmaking this year. The detonation scene is spectacularly captured, and the combination of visual effects and sound made more than a few people in the audience jump despite knowing precisely what was coming.

Of course, none of this would land as hard as it does without a few spectacular performances. Nolan has enough juice now that everyone wants to work with him, and as a result, Oppenheimer is crammed with named talent. As such, you will have performers like Tom Conti, Kenneth Branagh, and Rami Malek all showing up for a few scant scenes but delivering such on-point performances that you couldn't imagine anyone else in the role.

The main supporting cast is filled out with the likes of Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, and Alden Ehrenreich, each reminding us that they are tremendous talents this year. Ehrenreich shares most of his scenes with Robert Downey Jr and holds his own like he was born to play the role, while Downey is giving his best performance in years. His Lewis Strauss has a depth of character that I won't spoil here, and he delivers an electric monologue near the end of the film that will undoubtedly be his awards clip when he is nominated for all the awards this year.

Additionally, both Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are on hand as General Leslie Groves (who recruited Oppenheimer to the Manhattan Project) and Kitty Oppenheimer, respectively, each providing a different kind of foil for Oppenheimer himself at different moments in the story. Each primarily occupies one half of the story, and while Blunt doesn't have a lot of screen time in the former half, she ends up with two of the most memorable moments in the latter.

The film is owned by Cillian Murphy, playing J. Robert Oppenheimer. Each of the three timelines in this film gives us a different Oppenheimer, and Cillian Murphy conveys those differences superbly. Subtle differences in cadence and body language let you know that the man after the Trinity detonation is irrevocably changed from the man he was before, and specifically, his eyes fade from betraying naivete to a man haunted and burdened by his knowledge and what others have done with it. It is a stunning performance that will surely be recognized as one of the best of the year.

Oppenheimer is a feat of filmmaking and might have the most on its mind of any of Nolan's films about the state of the world, what knowledge can bring, who owns that knowledge and what the powerful do with the things we create. The story is an integral part of history and perhaps even more relevant today in all these respects, as a reminder that the best of intentions can be wrong, corrupted, or both.

It is a film that will leave you thinking and that you won't soon be able to forget. Make sure you see it on the biggest screen you can find.

Movie Review: "Oppenheimer"; Christopher Nolan explores the price of knowlege in one of the best films of the year