This powerful autobiographical story about the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ is undoubtedly one of Christopher Nolan’s best films.
Peaky Blinders' lead Cillian Murphy – who starred in Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy as the villainous Scarecrow – puts in an enigmatic performance as the title character, alongside a truly spectacular all-star cast.
Great performances from the likes of Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and – in particular – Robert Downey Jr, aid this telling of the man who was the mastermind behind the atomic/hydrogen bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki), which quite literally ended the Second World War.
But intriguingly that only takes up around half of the epic – and never tedious – three-hour run-time, as it’s the aftermath and ‘witch hunt’ by Downey Jr’s Naval officer Lewis Strauss, that surprisingly takes up the major premise of the film overall.
Starting in 1926, fledgling theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy), is doing the rounds across Europe – meeting the likes of famous scientific figures from Tom Conti’s Einstein to Kenneth Branagh’s Niels Bohr – before returning to the States, to expand on his quantum physics research in California.
Here we see the start of his communist background, and womanising ways, as he meets party member Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) – who he has an on-off affair with – and his future wife, biologist and former ‘commie’, Katherine Puening (Blunt).
Eventually in 1942 – despite some hesitancy due to his allegedly ‘extreme’ viewpoints – he comes onto the radar of a worried US government (and in particular Damon’s army general Leslie Groves) due to the Nazi’s potential nuclear weapons program.
This leads to Oppenheimer assembling a team of the world’s most-renowned scientists in New Mexico to try and beat Germany in a race to complete an atomic bomb that could turn the tide in the war.
But it’s after the events of the ‘main course’ that major questions are asked as to whether it needed to be dropped in Japan in the first place, as Germany had already surrendered – and it inadvertently started a new war (as in the Cold War) with the Soviet Union.
With the hysteria surrounding who may have aided America’s fierce rival state being the main bone of contention for the final third – as Oppenheimer looks to be potentially discredited after once being lauded as a national hero.
There may be one or two spells that slightly drag at points during the long run-time, but with the magnificent Murphy and co on hand, it never gets boring with so many compelling performances and always intriguing storyline.
That interspersed into Nolan’s playground of sparkling cinematography – there’s eerily delightful interludes evoking the impending doom – coupled with a delightful musical score, means there’s much to love here.
Oppenheimer may have taken the awkward moniker of ‘father of the atomic bomb’, but after this Nolan definitely reaffirms his position as the new ‘father of the cinema’ – with another explosive piece of visual wonderment.
ESP Rating: 4.5/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Josh Hartnett, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Dane Dehaan, Jason Clarke, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Modine, Tom Conti, Tony Goldwyn, David Dastmalchian & Gary Oldman
Running Time: 3 Hrs
Director: Christopher Nolan
Go to www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for all the latest film information & showtimes at Peterborough’s Showcase Cinema De Lux
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