Oppenheimer's First Critics Don't Hold Back Their Opinions on Nolan's New Movie
After Oppehneimer’s world premiere, the critics are blown away by the sheer scale and intricacy of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie: they deem it his masterpiece.
The recent world premiere of Oppenheimer left every critic startled and awed; Twitter is filled with actual praise for director Nolan and the movie’s cast that doesn’t even look AI-generated (as with some other recent films). Admittedly, Oppenheimer is taking over the crown of Christopher Nolan ’s new magnum opus.
For once, we get to see a diverse and original pool of opinions from a broad variety of critics; while they focus on different aspects of the movie, they all seem to agree that Oppenheimer is nothing short of a masterpiece. The hype’s been built up, and now it’s time for the reveal: let’s see what the critics have to say.
Many critics praise the outstanding performance of the cast, especially Cillian Murphy, who plays J. Robert Oppenheimer himself. Lindsey Bahr from The Associated Press, for instance, found special joy in the “nuanced performances” of the actors, including those who only appeared on the screen for a brief moment.
“Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is truly a spectacular achievement, in its truthful, concise adaptation, inventive storytelling, and nuanced performances from Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and the many, many others involved — some just for a scene,” Bahr wrote on her Twitter.
Others were moved by the sheer scale of the movie: Robbie Collin from Telegraph admitted that Oppenheimer “left him sobbing through the end credits,” and Matt Maytum from the UK Critics’ Circle agreed that he felt “stunned” by “the tension, structure, sense of scale, startling sound design, remarkable visuals” of the movie.
The emotional effect of Christopher Nolan’s new masterpiece is described by many of the critics as “devastating” or “fundamental,” but Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri put this impression into words better than most, claiming that “fearsome” is the right word.
“Oppenheimer is… Incredible. The word that keeps coming to mind is ‘fearsome.’ 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,” wrote Ebiri.
His colleague Elsa Keslassy shared that in France, the premiere’s audience loved the movie so much that they “stayed in front of the Grand Rex theater long after the film ended to debate about it,” and that tells you something in today’s busy world.