Oppenheimer; what has been the early reaction to Christopher Nolan’s newest cinematic epic?

July 21 2023 marks a cinematic battle like no other; the battle between Barbie and the atomic bomb, as Greta Gerwig’s sugary-sweet looking “Barbie” starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is released at the same time as Christopher Nolan’s latest film “Oppenheimer,” starring Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy. Two very different movies but both important moments in cinema, as the US box office looks to pull itself out of a summer slump that has affected both “The Flash” and the long awaited “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny.”

But while my colleague Natalie Dixon eagerly awaits “Barbie”, the brooding cinephile that is myself is very much looking forward to Nolan’s work, which at one stage he referred to as having “horror movie” like elements you wouldn’t expect from a historical epic. Which, for me anyway, gives off quite Lynchian-vibes, if the trailers and press photos are anything to go by.

But we’ve been burned before regarding anticipation for a film, or a television series in my case. So of course, one has to be very cautious if it is mainly style over substance, which sometimes has been a criticism Nolan has received in the past - so have there been any early reviews or reaction for the film?

There have been, but not the reviews you would find on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic yet; instead, Nolan invited some esteemed guests outside the cinema critiquing circle, including Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The pair wrote the exhaustive biography “American Prometheus,” which the director used as the basis for his film - and thankfully, the pair gave it a thumbs up.

Originally reported by The Digital Fix, they reported that while speaking at an event at the Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York, Bird revealed just how much he was struck by the thriller movie. “I think it is going to be a stunning artistic achievement,” he said. 

“I have hopes it will actually stimulate a national, even global conversation about the issues that Oppenheimer was desperate to speak out about – about how to live in the atomic age, how to live with the bomb and about McCarthyism – what it means to be a patriot, and what is the role for a scientist in a society drenched with technology and science.”

The author went on to state that after watching a sneak preview of the film that it left him “stunned and emotionally recovering.”

Nolan also revealed that he was at pre-release screenings throughout their viewings, with the general feeling the experience was incredibly cathartic and harrowing. “Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated,” Nolan said about early screenings in a new interview with Wired magazine.

“They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”

Pinkvilla also revealed that the bookings to see the film are set to see Christopher Nolan receive his strongest opening weekend yet; they’ve reported that 9,000 tickets for the opening day, weeks before release, have been sold with a further 22,500 tickets for the opening weekend only in IMAX also having sold.

Oppenheimer opens in cinemas on July 21 2023.