Christopher Nolan has become as big a name as the movies he directs. You know that when you see one of his films, you will get quality, a filmmaker who produces thought-provoking, often head-scratching tales. After his last movie, the complicated Tenet, we now get a biopic, of sorts, in the story of the Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Hyped for over a year, this has come on the same day as the polar-opposite Barbie is released and while two very different movies, and having witnessed both over one weekend, I would say the winner, by a country mile, is Barbie. Oppenheimer has a great cast, looks fantastic, and the soundscape is incredible, but far too many issues for me to ignore.

J. Robert Oppenheimer is a man with a vision that he cannot shake. A man whose scientific mind has him questioning the development of the splitting of the atom. With a host of scientists behind him and the belief from the US Army, Oppenheimer started to develop a weapon that could end the war: the Atomic Bomb. Yet with possible spies in his ranks, his own personal issues and the fact that even he knows this could destroy the world, Oppenheimer is determined to beat the Russians to the weapon.

Apart from Dunkirk, Nolan has never made a fact-based movie before, and like all of his films, this is one built around taking sequences out of sync with the rest of the story. This cuts from Oppenheimer’s past to the development and testing of the bomb, to the discrediting of him in a review committee that is run more like a Communist witch hunt, to a senate hearing in which Lewis Struss, a man who was, at first on Oppenheimer’s side but later denounced him, is appealing to be put forward to the senate. These latter scenes are filmed in black and white, while the rest of the movie is in vivid colour.

This, for me, is the first of the problems of this film. Instead of following the usual format of timelines, Nolan loves to play around with them, so sequences are mixed, and we jump from one strain to another. While this may work in his fictional movies, where it draws attention away from the emotional narrative of a man who has created the Doomsday machine and who is struggling with his own moral opinions. Oppenheimer is a flawed character who is a womaniser and, in a way, an egomaniac who wants to get to the prize before anybody else, then who finds that the prize is far too deadly to be part of. Yet you never become emotionally involved with him. Even in his darkest moments, there isn’t a connection that makes you care.

The script, like most Nolan films, is technically detailed, but again, this has a habit of distancing the audience from the screen. This is predominantly a three-hour movie in which people talk in rooms. There is very little action, and apart from the build-up to the testing of the bomb, very little tension. In fact, the final hour is handed over entirely to the two court hearings. While some may find this stimulating, this doesn’t necessarily keep you enthralled and with so much science talk, unless this is your thing, you find yourself drifting.

Some of Nolan’s characters are neatly drawn out, but one thing that he struggles with is writing female roles. Here we have two women in Oppenheimer’s life, Kitty, his wife and Jean Tatlock, his mistress. Both should have been up and front in the strong character departments, especially being performed by two of the screen’s finest, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh. Yet both are given very little to do, particularly Kitty, who has one decent scene, and that’s about it.

The film is brimming with strong actors, from Gary Oldman to Matthew Modine, to Josh Hartnett (I could go on). Robert Downey Jr is terrific as Strauss, a man who comes across as kind and well-mannered but hides darkness inside him. It’s proof that Downey Jr was always a great actor, even if his Iron Man persona has recently pushed that aside. Cillian Murphy, however, is the star of this film in every sense of the word. His performance as Oppenheimer is magnetic, capturing all the emotions in his face and eyes that, without saying a word, he conveys these feelings. He pulls the narrative along with ease, and you can understand why there are whispers of awards coming his way. It is a towering achievement and one worth seeing the film for.

Oppenheimer is not a terrible movie, yet it’s not the greatest film ever made, either. I know I feel like I’m going against the grain of the recent crops of reviews in which people are almost falling over themselves to declare this the most epic of epic movies. I feel it’s way too long; some moments drag, and far too much techno-babble for me to really care. Plus, the score is incredibly intrusive, which bothered me throughout the film. Worth seeing on a big screen for Cillian Murphy, but this is a disappointment.

3 out of 5

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett

Written by: Christopher Nolan, (based on the book) Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin

Running Time: 180 minutes

Cert: 15

Release date: 21st July 2023