Oppenheimer

14A, mature theme.
Dir: Christopher Nolan
US, 2023, 180 min
Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Casey Affleck

“The physicist who oversaw America’s race to develop the atom bomb before the Nazis is the beating heart of director Christopher Nolan’s spectacular depiction of world-changing history. Cillian Murphy gives a stunning performance as J Robert Oppenheimer, dubbed ‘the father of the atomic bomb’, and he’s supported by an awesome array of talent, including Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck… Nolan’s marriage of visuals and sound design is often dazzling, not least during the tension-filled detonation of the prototype device. Oppenheimer’s postwar battle with authorities over his politics also features, and the fusion of these intersecting narratives delivers a dramatically explosive climax. But it is Murphy’s haunting turn, often conveyed in unsparing close-up, that anchors this beautifully cinematic epic.” —Jeremy Aspinall, Radio Times (UK)