Christopher Nolan’s Magnum Opus ‘Oppenheimer’ Is a Blistering Condemnation of the Arms Race | Review

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike by a member of SAG-AFTRA. This film would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike for fair wages and working conditions. No money was exchanged for this review.

General audiences may know Christopher Nolan for his unrivaled Dark Knight Trilogy, but it’s his historical films that seem to allow him to be fully in his element. His twisty psychological thriller The Prestige allowed him to explore the intrigue of Victorian London, while Dunkirk let him revel in the brutality of World War II from land, air, and sea. With both, he captured the unique aesthetics of the eras with his keen directing style, all the while using the beauty of his filmmaking to explore deep, thought-provoking subjects.

Oppenheimer feels like it may just be Nolan’s magnum opus. It is undoubtedly his strongest script and most cohesive plot, and the way he picks apart his subject with such brutal and purposeful intent is masterful. Even with its massive three-hour runtime, the pacing and editing keep the audience fully engaged in the harrowing story. Which is impressive, considering the depressing subject matter and its historical relevance. This is, after all, the story of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”—Robert J. Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). 

In the same way that All Quiet on the Western Front depicted the horrors of war without painting anyone as heroes or gods, Oppenheimer puts the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer on trial and allows the audience to arrive at the natural conclusion that there is no victory in war, there is only destruction. Filmmakers often look to glamorize the past and rewrite the narratives to provide a clear delineation between who they view as “good” and “bad,” but Nolan doesn’t do this. Instead, he has placed Oppenheimer in the grey space and allowed historical facts to condemn and commend. The truth is always far more complex.

Image via Universal

Oppenheimer may not be a feel-good historical drama, but it does force the audience to think and feel. In Nolan’s films, metaphors and intellectualism are as inescapable as his emotionally driven soundscapes. Nolan uses auditory signifiers to explore the inner workings of Oppenheimer’s mind, and many of these moments feel like the physical embodiment of anxiety and stress. As the world closes in on him and his hearing fades, certain sounds break through the silence like the thunderous explosions that arrive minutes after the Trinity Test. Nolan knows how to show and tell with his films, which seems to be a slow-dying art at this juncture. 

Nolan artfully interweaves Oppenheimer’s story with the unforgiving opinion of Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.). With these scenes, he quite literally plays upon this idea of the black-and-white of objective truth, but even that truth comes from an unreliable narrator. Both men are driven by their moral convictions, though the film acknowledges the fallacy of those convictions, which paints neither man in a positive light. This bitter pseudo-rivalry culminates into one of the best hours of filmmaking in the film’s final act, which is a feat of its own. Oppenheimer doesn’t fall apart in the final act, as so many films do. Instead, it feels like a victory lap for Nolan. Everything slots together, like the pieces of the atom bomb, delivering a soul-crushing final shot that closes in on the audience as the credits roll.

Unlike his previous films, Nolan takes a risk by using sex and nudity to explore the extremes of the human condition, as it relates to Oppenheimer. It is purposefully shocking each time Florence Pugh and Murphy are stripped bare, but the final time is the most compelling use of their flesh. Their brief romance was cut short when Oppenheimer’s other tryst with the married Kitty (Emily Blunt) ended up with her pregnant, leading to a hasty divorce and marriage. Still, years later, Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock impulsively rekindle their affair, which leads to catastrophe. Like the weapon of mass destruction that Oppenheimer designed, this single choice inflicted long-lasting pain, and its fallout is felt years within the confines of the sham courtroom. While he is forced to put their affair on record, Kitty watches it all play out in front of her—picking open old wounds.

Image via Universal

When the cast for Oppenheimer was first announced, ‌it was clear that Nolan was enlisting the very best to bring this bleak period of history to life but to see them all in action is something else entirely. Each perfectly-cast actor vanishes into their role, and Nolan’s script gives them a tremendous amount to do and explore as those real-life figures of history. Matt Damon toes this really compelling line of likeability with Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, who enlisted Oppenheimer to oversee the Manhattan Project. He vacillates from a stone-faced military man to someone who genuinely cared about Oppenheimer. Benny Safdie gives one of his better performances as Edward Teller, holding his own against Murphy as Teller and Oppenheimer go toe-to-toe about the future of the Hydrogen Bomb. Josh Peck and Jack Quaid escape from their character types with Oppenheimer, and while their roles are minor, they make the most of every scene they are in. Josh Hartnett gives a really understated performance as Ernest Lawrence, helping to flesh out the period of time when Oppenheimer was teaching, rather than helping to destroy the world. He and Murphy are electric as they fight over communist sympathies and the desire to unionize the lab. The best of the secondary cast, however, is Alden Ehrenreich and Rami Malek who thread the needle in the final act. For Ehrenreich, Oppenheimer may finally propel his career in the long over-due right direction. 

Nolan’s films are always like a decadent Victoria sponge cake, with each layer as delicious as the last, and Oppenheimer is no exception. Paired with Oppenheimer’s claustrophobic soundscape, Ludwig Göransson’s soaring score builds the suspense with instrumentation that permeates the soul. Nolan also enlisted costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who has worked on numerous historical projects, to dress the period. While the 1930s and 40s are not as sumptuous or rarefied as the 19th century, Mirojnick perfectly captures the essence of the era, straight down to the women’s stockings with the classic back seams. All of these elements, both large and small, help to craft a film that is unlike any other in Nolan’s filmography. 

Unless Hollywood has a sleeper hit waiting in the wings, Oppenheimer is primed to be 2023’s best film. It is a triumphant masterpiece and unquestionably Nolan’s most profound and career-defining film to date. 

FINAL VERDICT: A