Yahoo News ‘Oppenheimer’ First Reactions Praise Cillian Murphy’s ‘Mesmerizing’ Performance in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Spectacular’ Epic
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.
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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.
I have seen #Oppenheimer and it is epic in every sense of the word, and that third act has some of the best scenes. The sound design blew me away. Easily Nolan's all-time top five films. But inject Ludwig Göransson into me, Oscar nom incoming, delivering his best score to date pic.twitter.com/YJdcsbZV0q
— Jazz Tangcay (@jazzt) July 14, 2023
#Oppenheimer left me stunned: a character study on the grandest scale, with a sublime central performance by Cillian Murphy. An epic historical drama but with a distinctly Nolan sensibility: the tension, structure, sense of scale, startling sound design, remarkable visuals. Wow
— Matt Maytum (@mattmaytum) July 11, 2023
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.
— Lindsey Bahr (@ldbahr) July 11, 2023
Totally absorbed in OPPENHEIMER, a dense, talkie, tense film partly about the bomb, mostly about how doomed we are. Happy summer! Murphy is good, but the support essential: Damon, Downey Jr & Ehrenreich even bring gags. An audacious, inventive, complex film to rattle its audience
— Jonathan Dean (@JonathanDean_) July 11, 2023
I was skeptical, but Oppenheimer has stuck with me since seeing it last week. Yes, it's 3 hours, but in a dense-Scorsese way and the last 20 minutes (why Emily Blunt clearly took the role) bring its three narrative threads to a moving conclusion. (1) pic.twitter.com/dEC4hLlYiF
— Gregory Ellwood – The Playlist 🎬 (@TheGregoryE) July 11, 2023
Am torn between being all coy and mysterious about Oppenheimer and just coming out and saying it’s a total knockout that split my brain open like a twitchy plutonium nucleus and left me sobbing through the end credits like I can’t even remember what else.
— Robbie Collin (@robbiereviews) July 11, 2023
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.
— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) July 11, 2023
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.
— Christina Newland (@christinalefou) July 13, 2023
Oppenheimer is a roaring beast of a film, largely set in research labs but feeling like an odyssey into hell. Cillian Murphy is mesmerising, and Nolan is at full power; it feels like the film itself becomes radiation-poisoned as it goes on. A bleak triumph. pic.twitter.com/NwlomzhGJd
— Nick de Semlyen (@NickdeSemlyen) July 14, 2023
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