Oppenheimer (2023)

Oppenheimer released in 2023 was a biographical thriller film. It was written, directed and co-produced by Christopher Nolan. The movie featured Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. in lead roles as Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss. The supporting cast included industry’s top actors like; Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, etc. 

The film is about an American scientist named J. Robert Oppenheimer, who assembled a team of scientists in development of an atomic bomb. The film talks about the journey of Oppenheimer throughout this project and how it changed him as a person. The film shows successful testing of the atomic bomb, which was named Trinity. Right after the successful testing, we were shown the attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki using the same atomic bomb Oppenheimer made. The up and down relationship of Strauss and Oppenheimer also makes the film interesting.

The film was directed by Christopher Nolan, a director who has made iconic movies in the past like; Interstellar, Batman: The Dark Knight, Memento, Inception, etc. The film was shot in IMAX, which turned out to be absolutely brilliant. Nolan used close up shots and headshots in the film to show the anxiety and stress on Oppenheimer’s face. The sound design of the film was phenomenal, specially during the scene of testing of the bomb. Even in the shots where there is nothing being said, the audience saw and understood the message Nolan was trying to convey. Nolan just won his first Oscar few days ago for this film

One big thing about the film is its stacked cast. When the film was announced, the cast took a lot of people by surprise, as people couldn’t believe that all these big names can work together in the same film. The casting was perfect, all the actors sat perfectly with their characters. Cillian Murphy before this film was one of the most underrated actors in the industry. Noland and Murphy had worked before in the past on multiple projects, but Murphy was always a supporting character in his previous movies. This time around, Murphy was playing the lead role, and it can be said that Nolan brought the best out of Murphy in this film. Murphy’s American accent in the film doesn’t even give you a small hint that the character is played by an Irish-born actor. Cillian Murphy was the standout performer in this film alongside Robert Downey Jr. whose character was really grey and mysterious, and he played it to perfection. Both Murphy and Downey Jr. won Oscars for their performance in the film a few days ago. Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh were also good in their roles.

Strengths of the film were; strong cast, brilliant direction, unmatched acting of Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., strong screenplay and amazing sound design.

Weaknesses weren’t a lot apart from the fact that the film was way too long, and it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

In my opinion, the film was Excellent, a must-watch and I would give it a solid 8.8/10.