Film: Oppenheimer
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett
Director: Christopher Nolan
Rating: 4/5
Runtime: 180 mins

Christopher Nolan’s much awaited bio-epic on J. Robert Oppenheimer, is a three-hour-long wordy indictment on the development of the atomic bomb. An extended internalised character study of a complex man at war with himself, the volatile narrative exposes his tryst with varied forces during a turbulent time, as the film tries to convey the very contradictions and conflicts involved(both internal and external) in the inception, conception, initiation, and deployment of what stands out as the most obliterating and explosive moment in wartime history.   

Initially, a theoretical physicist, Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), finds himself fast-tracking into heading the formation and management of a team of brilliant, dysfunctional geniuses tasked by the American Government to begin the development of an atomic bomb as World War II began to take shape in 1942. Nolan’s film lays bare the interactions between key figures involved in the process including, Atomic Energy Commission figure, Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), military engineer Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), and a contingent-sized ensemble that has Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh essaying key roles.