A director getting a $100 million budget to produce a three-hour adult drama with an ensemble cast? Yeah, I’m thinking movies are back! (and of course I saw this as part of the Barbenheimer double feature)

“Oppenheimer” follows the titular theoretical physicist who was pivotal in developing the first nuclear weapon during World War II. Cillian Murphy depicts J. Robert Oppenheimer, while Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, and Josh Hartnett also star and Christopher Nolan writes and directs.

The last time we saw Christopher Nolan he was pushing for “Tenet” (a film I had to drive three hours to see) to be the first blockbuster released into theaters way back at the height of the pandemic in September 2020. He didn’t have to fight so hard to get his latest project onto the big screen (in fact he drew a bidding war which Universal eventually won) and whatever your thoughts about Nolan and his films, one has to appreciate his dedication to supporting theaters (doesn’t hurt he gets 20% first-dollar gross, either). “Oppenheimer” may not rank as the best film of the director’s career, but it is a thrilling, engrossing look into the complicated and misunderstood mind of a genius, full of great performances and attention to detail.

Cillian Murphy has starred in five previous Nolan films, but this marks the first time he is the lead and he steps up to the plate and delivers. Murphy depicts Oppenheimer as a man who believes he is right but sometimes struggles to articulate his reasoning, and we get glimpses into how he views the world (rain appears as fission, applause sounds like an eruption). There is some sly wit under a thin layer of neuroticism, almost like a more-chiseled version of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game,” but he also relays soulful despair in his eyes.

The supporting cast are all great, with Robert Downey Jr. giving arguably his best performance since 2008’s “Tropic Thunder” as Lewis Strauss, an eventual political adversary of Oppenheimer. At first Downey seems like he is just there to chew scenery (which he does well) but as the film progresses he gets little nuanced moments that really tie everything together, including in the climax’s reveals. I also really liked Matt Damon as a General Leslie Groves, the man tasked with overseeing Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project. Damon has some of the film’s best comedic lines (like his bff Ben Affleck, I feel he is an underrated comedic actor), and while he can be a bit hammy at points I really liked what Damon brought to the film. Emily Blunt is effective-enough as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty (though she gets one scene near the end of the film to truly shine), and the rest of the cast does what Nolan needs them to do, whether it is small work from Josh Peck and Jack Quaid or emotional beats from Kenneth Branagh and Florence Pugh.

Nolan is famous for opting to use practical sets and stunts over CGI in his films, and that really comes into play here. To recreate the famed Trinity test, Nolan actually detonated a bomb in lieu of digitally creating an explosion, and you can practically feel the heat radiating from the screen. Speaking of, the moments leading up to the detonation–even though history has told us the outcome–are as intense as anything, and are a masterclass in direction and editing. Nolan chose to shoot some scenes in color and others in black-and-white (to show the subjective truth versus the objective reality of certain character’s views on the transpiring events, respectively) and the black-and-white sequences are really stunning, I’d honestly have loved to see the entire film shot like that; it goes without saying this whole film looks gorgeous in IMAX.

While the film is never boring, it does suffer from similar issues from many modern titles in that it is too long without fully justifying it. Some scenes feel like we’re simply revisiting plot points, and other bits could have been trimmed (the third act is focused on the fallout from the bombings of Japan and until its crescendo is not as gripping as the first two hours). There is also a lot of talking in depositions and name-dropping, and it is at times hard to keep track of which scientist said what and why this person is upset at that person.

“Oppenheimer” is a thriller film dressed up as a $100 million character study, and delivers everything you’d hope and expect from a Christopher Nolan joint (though this is probably his least-“Nolany” film to-date). Murphy, Downey Jr., and Damon all turn in great performances and fans of the behind-the-scenes aspects of World War II should get their kicks, too. It’s an effective blend of historical, moral, and scientific quandaries that should leave audiences satisfied.

Critics Rating: 8/10