Oppenheimer was a work released by Universal Studios during the SAG/WGA strike. This review acknowledges that this movie would not have been made without the major contributions of its Actors and Writers now striking against studios like Universal for fair pay and job security.

Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere. -Dom Cobb, Inception

You're familiar with the phrase "man's reach exceeds his grasp"? It's a lie: man's grasp exceeds his nerve. -Nikola Tesla, The Prestige

Perhaps it’s an inevitability for people like me who obsess over filmmakers’ careers will try to find a common through-line that will act as a cipher for an entire body of work. With the intricate works of Christopher Nolan, the signs of him starting the chain reaction to a crucial and absorbing history of ambition, obsession, contradictions, triumph, guilt, and existentialist dread were always apparent as long as you watched closely.

A singular towering figure in Quantum physics and Nuclear studies J. Robert Oppenheimer’s (Cillian Murphy) complicated legacy is one of Shakespearean empathy intertwined with modern condemnation. All the shadings of the Man are on display for you to come to terms with from a guilt-ridden wartime pawn to a dangerously naive engineer of a war crime. Adapting Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s biography American Prometheus the filmmakers dive deep into the science, politics, triumph, guilt, and trials of the father of the Atomic Bomb. Jumping around from the influences and academic life of Oppenheimer Pre-1942 to a probing Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) security clearance hearing in 1954 to a cabinet confirmation hearing in 1959 the 3hr. runtime is dialogue-heavy as we gather many perspectives on the creation, usage, and future of the A-bomb culminating in a profoundly disquieting final confession.

Beginning from Oppenheimer’s POV, aptly titled ‘Fission’, as he navigates academic life, worldly concerns, and professional and personal politics while meeting future Manhattan Project members, lovers in Jene Tatlock (Florence Pugh), his wife Katherine "Kitty" (Emily Blunt), and being hailed as a science savant in the emerging field of Quantum Physics. While in the black and white ‘Fusion’ section former AEC head Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) attempts to defame Oppenheimer, his former colleague turned pariah due to a few petty grievances, using Red Scare tactics to further his political career. Fission and Fusion, two incredibly powerful processes diametrically opposite in mechanics each with similar destructive capabilities. The physicist who weaponized science in hopes of "Ending all war" vs. the politician weaponizing an unyielding bureaucracy for personal gain. Strauss' efforts are made all the easier due to Oppenheimer's vocal concerns about Nuclear proliferation at the onset of the Cold War making him a target for the powers-at-be. Made up of people you need to cozy up to confirm a Presidential Cabinet position. This clash of ambitions and viewpoints provides the outward conflict onscreen while the main struggle lies beneath the surface as Oppenheimer and his team starkly realize the devastating fallout of their work.

Murphy leads a massive star-studded cast of performers that all help to portray the coast-to-coast national effort that was the Manhattan Project. After being tasked by Major Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) to build this WMD before Germany develops one Oppenheimer recruits some of the biggest names in physics to assemble at Los Alamos, Oak Ridge Tenn., Univ. of Chicago, and Berkeley California. including Hans Bethe (Gustaf Skarsgård), Edward Teller (Benny Safdie), Enrico Fermi (Danny Deferrari), Isidor Rabi (David Krumholtz), and Richard Feynman (Jack Quaid). Notably, he'll mention that he didn't ask Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) to join because relativity was "Old Science." Kitty along with the other scientist's families are whisked away to the New Mexican desert without truly knowing the full extent of the work being done.

While the gifted physicist may have grandiose aspirations for his work with the Military his troubles happen almost immediately as he is asked to name names of colleagues and acquaintances who possibly had ties to unions, labor, communists, and other 'seditious' influences to get his Project security clearance. With all the presumed threats to national security, he is asked to “compartmentalize” his life working on the A-bomb causing him to lead double and even triple lives given his womanizing ways while being made abundantly clear he's under the thumb of Uncle Sam. How much will dogged agents uncover and are there life-and-death consequences for those around him? While this method serves its purpose in managing a highly secretive wartime project it feeds into his already paranoid and troubled psyche. Theory can only take you so far.

A magnificent supporting actor in many of Nolan’s previous works Murphy is in rarified air in the hefty lead role. His haunted eyes and expressions carry much of the story’s weight. Simultaneously conveyed with the once beautiful inspirational imagery of sparks of particles and atoms colliding now imagined as engulfing Nuclear hellfire. Fully brought to bear with a frightening gymnasium scene as the scientist in what should be his moment of wartime triumph can’t escape his worst apocalyptic nightmares. As horrifying as his imaginations are it is a meeting with a coldly unconcerned Harry Truman (Gary Oldman) after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that strikes another horror cord. The Man only cares that he is the one who dropped the bomb to end WWII with no intentions to de-escalate the precarious situation. Say what you want about Oppenheimer and the rest of the Manhattan Project team but at least they understood the severe implications of the Bomb and the terrifying consequences of using it. Back to his bureaucratic nightmare battling accusation, rumor, and hearsay without formal charges it is Kitty who asks if he's treating this as a public flagellation over his creation in a vain attempt for forgiveness. Oppenheimer himself may not have known for sure as his actions, ethics, and very character are relentlessly cross-examined atom by atom.

Along with the huge superbly cast ensemble, many other filmmaking aspects are working at peak performance. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s camera captures the intimacy of high-stakes conversations, wide-scope desert vistas, and the vibrant terror of the Trinity test, Jennifer Lame’s swift time-jumping editing, Ludwig Göransson’s ethereal and tension-filled compositions, Ruth De Jong’s dedicated historic set recreations and the sound design team’s bombastic stingers are all grandly presented on the big screen. Having seen this both projected digitally and on 70mm either grant an immersive experience that typical biopics and historical dramas rarely achieve.

In the end, what do we take away from this dense story? Man’s innate drive for self-destruction? A cautionary tale of ego, ambition, morality, and ethics? The banality in the decisions leading to evil? All the above but perhaps it can be boiled down to self-determination. Once an idea is no longer theory a Scientist never wants to think they'll be isolated from its future implementations. Dangers of rampant exploitation occur not just with the ever more pressing problems with Nuclear weapons but with emerging technologies like AI and genetic engineering. Much like Hugh Jackman’s Robert Angier ignoring Tesla’s warning as he defiantly announced to his adoring crowd “Man's reach exceeds his imagination!”. Brilliant people, ego and intellectually driven alike, can rationalize and excuse anything to a staggering degree to find some measure of control within their lives. All the calculations, compartmentalizations, and compromises have to account for something, right?

That is of course until someone makes a bigger bomb.

Christopher Nolan Ranked

Here's Mark Liddell and I discussing this one at length on the Script/2/Screen Podcast: podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/script2screen-podcast/episodes/Script2Screen---Oppenheimer-e28iqge