Oppenheimer
That being said, the first hour moves at such breakneck speed that you'll be struggling to catch your breath anyway. We very quickly learn of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his rise to prominence as one of the world's leading theoretical physicists. Scenes come and go within seconds, as a parade of other physicists are put into Oppenheimer's orbit so he can eventually recruit them heist-style into the Manhattan Project with the ultimate goal of developing an atomic bomb before Germany or Russia can do it first. As if that wasn't enough, Nolan (who is seemingly incapable of telling a linear narrative) flash forwards to a different time period where Oppenheimer is seemingly on trial for what his team eventually accomplishes. A third narrative thread set even further in the future features Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, preparing for his Senate confirmation hearing as Secretary of Commerce while revealing his motivations for engineering Oppenheimer's eventual public downfall. Each of these sections ebb and flow into each other, with one thread helpfully shot in black and white to assist audiences in identifying the parts told from Stauss' point of view.
It's an overwhelming onslaught of information that feels a bit like rushing through the setup of a long book in order to get to the good stuff, which very well might be the case seeing as how the movie is based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The mosaic of material is spectacularly stitched together by editor Jennifer Lame, but as in most Nolan movies, it's hard to say if the multiple time periods are a bug or a feature. In this instance, there is no concern of spoiling how things turn out; we all know how this story ends. However, the fractured time effect can make it feel like the characters aren't actually real people, just pieces of the movie's structural puzzle. We don't even really learn that much about Oppenheimer himself, who is rarely not on screen. It's less a true character study, more the viewer being whisked between key moments of history from above by some kind of omniscient filmmaker.
Regardless, it's almost impossible to look away. Hoyte van Hoytema might be the best cinematographer working today, and here he turns each of the many closeups of faces into captivating landscapes. Ludwig Göransson's score is often sublime (although there might be too much of it), constantly creating a sense of palpable drama even when we're just watching a conversation. Nolan routinely works with the best of the best, and the technical aspects of "Oppenheimer" are truly as good as it gets. It's telling that most Nolan movies often end up stirring up more conversation about how the movie is made than the movie itself.
Eventually all of the pieces are put in place, and we get to the truly tense second act that culminates in the first test of a nuclear weapon. It's a masterfully executed build up, breathlessly conveying the anxieties of not only successfully completing a project that has taken billions of dollars and the combined efforts of some of the smartest people in the world, but also finally beginning Oppenheimer's reckoning with the reality of what he's created and what it means for not only his own soul, but the world. Murphy is often captured in close up with a more frequently-occurring haunted expression, desperate for the success of his project but terrified but what the prospect of success means. The immediate aftermath of the test is possibly the most fascinating portion of the movie, as most of the project team celebrates while Oppenheimer goes through the motions like a ghost, face frozen in shock.
The third hour switches gear and becomes a courtroom procedural, as Lewis Strauss' hearing is intercut with Oppenheimer's own interrogation before a small committee that looks to revoke his security clearance after accusing him of Communist ties. It's fitting that Oppenheimer has no control over things at this point, resigned to a fate that has been determined for him by higher powers. There is still drama to be had here (and I am always a sucker for courtroom scenes), but it's hard not to feel like the final third of the movie is a slight comedown from what came before it, even if the existential questions posed in this section are perhaps the main focus of the entire thing.
It's a whole lot of movie, even for three hours, and even though the length can be felt at times, it also simultaneously doesn't feel like enough. Nolan tries to cram so many things into one package that it can be tempting to say that maybe some should've been either cut or expanded on. I hate to even suggest that this could've made an even more incredible prestige television series (sorry Mr. Nolan), but the truth is that there is so much interesting and thought-provoking material here that you'll want to leave the theater and keep learning more details about the things that you saw. That is certainly to the movie's great credit, but also speaks to the difficulty of making a satisfying and coherent narrative about all the things the movie wants to talk about.
Ultimately, it's a more than worthy attempt and a highly engaging affair that will only benefit from repeated viewings. Nolan repeatedly has characters tell you that Oppenheimer might be the most important person who has ever lived. Appropriately, he has created a stunningly accomplished and larger-than-life interrogation that will be talked about for years to come.
