Luke McWilliams gives his review of Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller, Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt.

In 1926, at the University of Göttingen in Germany, young J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) earns his Ph.D. and eventually makes his way to the University of California, Berkley, to teach physics. Soon, Oppenheimer is approached by General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) to help develop the atomic bomb to win WWII!

After writer and director Christopher Nolan’s attempt at getting audiences back into cinemas post-COVID with Tenet (2020), Nolan smashes through a sludge of comic book and legacy sequel intellectual properties with a celebration of the power of film. Nolan dips into his usual cast and crew to finally put a pin in his exploration of the almost supernatural, world-ending potential of technology gone rogue: a transportation device in The Prestige (2006), privacy breaching surveillance tech in The Dark Knight (2008), the power of a black hole in Interstellar (2014), and the apocalyptic potential of inversing the entire world in Tenet (2020).

Shot primarily from the view of its protagonist, the movie clearly presents Oppenheimer’s relationships, understanding and passion for physics, and the guilt he ultimately wrestles with. Cillian Murphy dominates the frame over the movie’s indulgent, but pacey, run-time, which is assisted by Nolan’s penchant for hyper-cuts, dominating soundtrack and an incredible ensemble cast.

The movie plays its paradoxical, subjective character-study and objective political drama like a thriller; Oppenheimer and his team are all too conscious of the creeping deadline of their project, and the ramifications should they fail…or succeed.

Verdict: The first Oscar contender of the year. A powerful experience. 4 stars.

• Luke McWilliams, themovieclub.net. Viewed at Dendy Cinemas.