Oppenheimer: Nolan and Murphy Form Explosive Duo

Visionary director Christopher Nolan returns with his multi-award-winning biopic tale of Robert Oppenheimer – the man who created the Atomic Bomb

I am a little late with this review as I knew this would be a draining watch, and boy, was I right. I say the word “visionary” with 100% belief in my heart that this is exactly what Christopher Nolan is. With a runtime of over three hours, Nolan delivers one of the most ambitiously complex and visually stunning films to ever be put on screen.

We all know the story of Oppenheimer; the man who created one of the world’s deadliest and cruellest weapons, the atomic bomb. Nolan tells his story with clarity, and complete honesty, showing us the many flawed sides of Oppenheimer.

I’ve been saying for months that Cillian Murphy will be getting an Oscar for his role as Robert Oppenheimer. He truly is exceptional in this and deserves everything he’s got coming to him…as awkward as that is going to make him. Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy are a flawless duo that grows stronger with each production. It used to be Scorsese and DiCaprio, now it’s Nolan and Murphy! Go on The Irish!

This is far from the first time that Murphy has been cast in a Christopher Nolan film. He had roles in Dunkirk, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Inception. Hard to believe but Oppenheimer is his first leading role in a Nolan movie. I couldn’t think of a more fitting person to play the role.

His co-stars were also so impressed with his performance. Matt Damon even phoned Ben Affleck during one of Cillian’s scenes telling him that he was witnessing something special in Murphy’s performance. He couldn’t have been more right. Another funny thing I learnt is that Matt Damon was taking a break from acting. He promised his wife that he wouldn’t do any more movies for a while…under one condition: if Christopher Nolan calls, he is accepting the role. The one man who could put Damon in front of the camera called and took him straight out of retirement.

As a director and writer, Nolan has been delivering some of the most well-written and intelligent screenplays of recent years dating back to the Guy Pearce thriller Memento. Even back then, Nolan was able to deliver something so unique that no one had seen before. It’s scary to see how much Nolan has come since then. He is one smart man and one hell of a filmmaker. To top it all off, apparently, Nolan only needs three months to prepare for Oppenheimer. It was then shot in just 57 days. I am starting to think this man ain’t human.

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Nolan was able to put together this epic and deliver a highly intellectual, complex script to go with the story. The sound design and atomic visuals were superb and a welcomed auditory treat away from the crazy equations and quantum physics talk. A mentally exhausting movie but one I am glad I have watched. Oppenheimer is filmmaking at its very finest, from every single aspect across the board and even surpasses Inception and Interstellar.

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jnr, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh, Macon Blair, Jason Clarke, Jack Quaid and Gary Oldman.

OVERALL

A demanding movie, draining and exhausting. Suffers from a lengthy runtime and I honestly wouldn’t have minded if they pulled a Hunger Games or a Harry Potter and released this in two instalments. Even, a short 4-episode mini-series would’ve been more fitting. However, what we see on screen and in the script is some of the best storytelling and filmmaking you could ever hope for.