Oppenheimer is acclaimed director Christopher Nolan’s most recent blockbuster film, released in late summer of 2023.

It is a biographical thriller that follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a Jewish American during World War II who uses his mastery of quantum physics to develop the first atomic bomb.

Filmed on IMAX in high resolution, Nolan takes you on a wild ride through his three-hour film, imbibing you with his stunning scenery and snapshots, as well as plunging you through tense, heart-stopping moments. He leads you through the creation and detonation of the first atom bomb.

Starting in Oppenheimer’s youth, you peer into his untameable mind as he struggles with the quantum world and then battles with political ideologies that disrupt his career as a professor at the University of Berkeley in California.

Soon, he finds himself in the middle of something greater than he can imagine as he becomes the head mastermind behind the Manhattan Project, overseeing the construction of Los Alamos and the development of the never-before-conceived nuclear bomb.

From start to finish, this movie has you hooked, anxious for the next scene and development as the scientists and theorists race against the clock.

The climax of the film, the well-anticipated explosion, is a moment nearly unrivaled in cinema and a scene that must be experienced in theaters.

The heartbeats and breathing amplify the tension and fear that builds with the passing storm as the clock ticks down. Then a bright flash of light and silence.

A silence that seems to last forever, keeping you on the tips of your toes, drawing you in as you watch the flash of light spread across the landscape, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a thunderous boom, shaking the seats, echoing through the theater, creating an out-of-this-world immersive experience for the moviegoer.

These crafted, awe-inspiring scenes give birth to a cinematic experience like no other.

While many contest that the movie’s length, dominated at times by the persistent arguing of the court cases, bore the audience, they merely buttress the growing tension the movie builds to and serve as a secondary plot that amplifies the conclusion.

Oppenheimer, in my opinion, ranks at the top of Nolan’s long list of films. I’d recommend all to embark on the tumultuous journey that entails in the three-hour saga.

For those who consider moments of the film dull and confusing, I encourage you to rewatch the movie, as the plot and beauty of the film are best enjoyed and understood multiple times. I guarantee that at the film’s end, you will find yourself consumed by a flurry of emotions: confusion, amazement, and fascination, which will leave you yearning to come back for more.