First Take: Oppenheimer - Nolan has become death, the destroyer of worlds

SYNOPSIS: The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

Spoiler free as usual. Because In Nolan We Trust.

When it was announced that Christopher Nolan would be adapting the book American Prometheus to film, most film fans were a bit baffled. Why is the godfather of in-camera, practical effects making a film about J. Robert Oppenheimer - the godfather of the atomic bomb? In his first film with Universal after the high profile split from Warner Bros (after the handling of Tenet’s release during Covid), Nolan is back with a film which will play cinemas for no fewer than 100 days. And boy is this one powerful.

Writing and directing as usual, Nolan has turned around a 3 hour film that deals with Oppenheimer’s story in 3 acts - the first hour tackles his early life before joining Trinity, the second hour is about the development of the bomb, and then that final hour deals with the moral cost - arguably the heaviest part of the film, but also the most divisive through the way Nolan tells this story, as he has two separate timelines going on: the ‘truth’ (as told by Strauss), and then Oppenheimer’s version of events. A key way this timeline is done is with Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography - shooting on film (65mm as well as IMAX 70mm) with specially created black and white stock for select sequences, we have a clear distinction between these two very different versions of events. And much like Tenet, this is a Zimmer-free zone, as Ludwig Goransson returns to score - and he turns in a pretty decent soundtrack.

As for the cast, and arguably one man: Cillian Murphy. A long-time supporting talent in Nolan’s prior work, and now leading arguably the biggest film he has made. What a choice. Murphy absolutely nails it, and when you have Robert Downey Jr as your support, you know you’re gonna put in a hell of a performance. Rounding off this cast is Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie and just so many names that to list them all would take forever - the point is that while this might not be the usual kind of film for Nolan, it is a timely film given how the final act plays out. Sure, it is an incredibly heavy film, one which has been done as part of a double bill with the other ‘new opener’ this weekend, but what we have here is a tale that depicts the truth of what happened when one man changed the world forever - and what happened in the chain reaction which followed.

THE VERDICT

Oppenheimer goes into the levels of detail that no director would dare cover when it comes to this story. It might be long, it might be excessive, and it might be too much for some cinemagoers on account of its 15 certificate and subject matter. But what this is, as every Nolan film seems to be, is a shining endorsement of why films like this belong in cinemas first. If that very first public screening in Preston yesterday morning was any indication, this could be the Oscar race starting ridiculously early.

RATING: 5/5