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Rating: There's no doubt, Nolan is one of the best directors around. Give him a story with meaning and value (like Dunkirk) and he turns it into a masterpiece, without getting lost (strictly personal opinion of course) in complicated cerebral games (Inception, Tenet) that in the long run cool any emotion.
Here we witness 180 minutes of a well-known story, but told without a moment's respite from the point of view of narrative tension. There are never real moments of reflective pause; even the dialogues between scientists, the family situations, or even the brief erotic scenes are always on the edge, always suggesting an impalpable tension.
Obviously, as happens in almost all his films, the alternating time frames play a dominant role, continually moving the narrative forward and backward. Added to this is a decidedly innovative and initially also bewildering use of color and black and white that, at first glance, seems tied to the chronology of the events, but actually changes depending on the points of view, objective and subjective, until it stays anchored (the B/W) mainly to a particular character that becomes increasingly important in the second part of the film.
The use of sound and the soundtrack, at times thunderous, sometimes suddenly absent, along with the tight editing of some pivotal moments and the usual mastery in showing the same scenes from multiple viewpoints that gradually reveal the few plot twists and, more than enigmas, some important curiosities, coupled with a stellar cast among which Cillian Murphy shines as the perfect protagonist, yet no actor is overshadowed (and the list would be too long, but one cannot help but mention at least Robert Downey Junior and Emily Blunt), complete a picture that, beyond pure aesthetic pleasure, also leaves great room for ethical reflections on the role of science and the personal responsibility of scientists (we are talking about the atomic bomb, the point of no return in human history).
A film to see and, probably, even to see again to fully enjoy some passages that the relentless pace of the film might sometimes risk losing.
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Other reviews
By Anatoly
Oppenheimer is indeed a political film that Nolan skillfully stages, wisely alternating timelines in line with his typical non-linear narrative.
The eternal repetition is that of the logic of power and the human propensity for destruction and death.
By scuffia
The film is stunning, pure Nolan, who finally gives his fetish actor, Cillian Murphy, the leading role.
Three hours? I didn’t notice, and I finally understood what black holes are.
By The Punisher
Excellent performance by the actors. The story is beautiful. The dialogues are beautiful, profound, and witty.
In the end, I left exhausted and worn out. Perhaps that was the sensation one was supposed to leave the cinema with?
By RolloTommasi
This is the greatest ethical dilemma humanity has ever faced.
Politics is the second (inevitable) trace of the film: high-level dilemmas can be even more complex than ethical ones.
