“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s three-hour biography of Robert J. Oppenheimer (played by Nolan regular Cillian Murphy), one of the architects of the nuclear bomb, is nearly here and ahead of its July 21 release date the social embargo has been lifted and the first thoughts are coming through. (The movie just had its world premiere in Paris.)
Bilge Ebiri, critic for New York Magazine and Vulture (and perhaps our greatest living film writer), said the film was “incredible.” “A relentlessly paced, insanely detailed, intricate historical drama that builds and builds and builds until Nolan brings the hammer down in the most astonishing, shattering way,” Ebiri said on Twitter.
Lindsey Bahr, a film critic and writer for the Associated Press, similarly called the film “truly a spectacular achievement.” “In its truthful, concise adaptation, inventive storytelling and nuanced performances from Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and the many, many others involved —- some just for a scene,” Bahr wrote.
Matt Maytum, an editor at Total Film, echoed those sentiments and said the movie “left me stunned.” “An epic historical drama but with a distinctly Nolan sensibility: the tension, structure, sense of scale, startling sound design, remarkable visuals,” Maytum tweeted.
Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin called the movie a “total knockout” and said that the movie “split my brain open like a twitchy plutonium nucleus and left me sobbing through the end credits like I can’t even remember what else.”
See more reactions below.
“Oppenheimer,” which also stars Robert Downey, Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Matthew Modine, Josh Peck, Alden Ehrenreich, Dane DeHaan and many, many more, was written and directed by Nolan and is based on the 2005 nonfiction book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
The movie will be in theaters on July 21, 2023.
