Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan isn’t exactly known as a maker of talky films, but after the marriage of dialogue-driven action and his trademark epic spectacle in Oppenheimer, the label is one he should wear with pride.

The writer/director’s highly charged biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer (masterfully played by Cillian Murphy) nimbly moves from the physicist’s college days to his professorial stint at UC Berkeley, capturing his insatiable quest for knowledge and natural leadership gifts, as well as certain character flaws that will presumably haunt him even beyond the 30-plus years Nolan depicts.

Though interspersed with gorgeous scenery from the Oppenheimer family’s Los Alamos property in New Mexico, the film’s timeline is foremost propelled forward by a surprisingly chatty script, as if Nolan went on an Aaron Sorkin binge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The steady conversation sustains the film’s motion over the course of three hours, moving between a chronological account of Oppenheimer’s career and hearings concerning the renewal of his security clearance and the confirmation of adversary Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) as U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

Tons of scientific, high-concept information is presented, but in far more digestible ways than its cousins in Interstellar and Tenet. And it also doesn’t hurt that the lines are delivered by a mammoth ensemble with more recognizable faces than the “Fishes” episode of The Bear.

From the top scientists Robert recruits for the Los Alamos Laboratory sector of The Manhattan Project to the military brass he’s forced to navigate to the women he loves, big stars abound. And as is often the case in Nolan films, many household names are willing to accept subordinate roles for the sake of the greater good.

While Downey (giving his best non-Tony Stark performance since Tropic Thunder) receives a true, meaty supporting role, and fellow poster-featured-names Emily Blunt (as Robert’s wife, Kitty), Matt Damon (as Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves), and Florence Pugh (as Robert’s troubled first wife, Jean Tatlock) make distinct impressions of their own, a potent mix of Oscar winners, comeback kids, and “That Guy/Gal”s keep the pace active in even smaller but no less significant ways.

It’s not every film that brings Casey Affleck and Gary Oldman in for a couple of minutes apiece, asks Kenneth Branagh for his best Werner Herzog impression, and makes viewers wonder if Rami Malek is playing a mute. Nor will just any filmmaker trust Josh Hartnett, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, Macon Blair, Matthew Modine, or Benny Safdie with significant dramatic heavy lifting.

Nolan’s faith in each of these and other actors pays off, and his disinterest in playing by the rules extends to a climax that likely isn’t what many viewers are expecting, part of a tasteful restraint in which the filmmaker finds more creative ways to express Oppenheimer’s guilt at being the “father of the atomic bomb” than simple exploitation.

It may not be the year’s best film — that honor still goes to Past Lives — but it’s damn close.

Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.

(Photo: Universal)