This biographical thriller, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan, is based on the 2005 book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons.
Nolan’s films may not always be big box office successes but their releases are always highly anticipated by film fans and this effort has been trailed at the cinema since late last year. It is an extraordinary achievement, taking what could be a dry subject in the increasingly tired biopic genre, and making it as propulsive as any thriller I have seen in a long time.
It is a lot less tricky than most of Nolan’s work but he still manages to seamlessly interweave three timelines: the building and detonation of the first atomic bomb in World War 2, the hearing that resulted in Oppenheimer’s security clearance being revoked in 1954, and the 1958 congressional hearing of Lewis Strauss who tried to engineer Oppenheimer’s downfall.
Murphy is absolutely convincing and there are great supporting turns from Emily Blunt as his wife and Matt Damon as the general who appointed Oppenheimer to the Manhattan Project, in a ridiculously starry cast that also includes Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Rami Malek and Florence Pugh. Casey Affleck is quietly chilling in the single scene he appears in, but, it is Robert Downey Jr, after years of coasting whilst taking the Iron Man pay cheques, who is the stand out as the devious Strauss.
There are some historical liberties taken, but amazingly in a career that includes a lot of remarkable films, this is his best yet.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10