The explosive first reactions to Christopher Nolan‘s WWII epic “Oppenheimer” have lit the internet ablaze.
The film hosted its world premiere in Paris, shortly before the cast walked out of the U.K. premiere amid the SAG-AFTRA strike being announced July 14. “Oppenheimer” is set to debut in theaters July 20 and stars Cillian Murphy as the titular father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr. are among the star-studded ensemble cast.
Writer-director Nolan used real explosions in lieu of CGI to mimic the first detonation of the atomic bomb during the Trinity Test. The entire film was shot in IMAX. “Oppenheimer” is inspired by 2005 book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin and centers on Manhattan Project leader J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy) as he grapples with the moral repercussions of creating the bomb.
Murphy’s co-star Damon called his performance a “marathon” of sorts to balance the genius physicist’s academic and personal lives. And critics agree: Empire magazine editor Nick de Semlyen tweeted, “‘Oppenheimer’ is a roaring beast of a film, largely set in research labs but feeling like an odyssey into hell. Cillian Murphy is mesmerizing, and Nolan is at full power; it feels like the film itself becomes radiation-poisoned as it goes on. A bleak triumph.”
Criterion writer Christina Newland added, “Cillian Murphy is genuinely so incredible here. Just operating at such a level of fragility and haunted knowingness and arrogant bravado; a performance as complex as the subject deserves.”
New York Magazine critic Bilge Ebiri called the film “incredible” and cited its “fearsome” approach to the weighty subject matter. “A relentlessly paced, insanely detailed, intricate historical drama that builds and builds and builds until Nolan brings the hammer down in the most astonishing, shattering way,” Ebiri tweeted.
The Playlist journalist Gregory Ellwood especially cited Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr.’s respective performances, saying Downey especially gave a career-best. AP film writer Lindsey Bahr wrote that she was “lucky” to have seen “Oppenheimer” in 70mm IMAX, which was a “once in a lifetime experience.”
Scroll to see “Oppenheimer” reactions and click here for all the details on the film, in theaters July 21.
