20 Best Movies Of 2023
6. Oppenheimer
Few films released this year have garnered quite as much fanfare and discussion as Christopher Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer, which follows J. Robert Oppenheimer (a career-defining Cillian Murphy) as he fights political persecution and races to build the world's first atomic bomb.
Despite clocking in at over three hours, Nolan's latest technical marvel never feels ponderous or overwrought, its rapid-fire dialogue, time-jumps and race-against-time structure allowing it to zip by like a brisk thriller, one so informative, harrowing and visually stunning it becomes impossible to look away from.
Anchored by Murphy's performance as a man as brilliant as he was haunted - as well as exemplary turns from Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh - Nolan's biopic is one of his finest achievements to date, full of such daring invention and poignant insight it leaves you gasping for breath - and hoping for a brighter future.