For all the myriad ways that films and television have explored the Second World War, very few have been concerned with the man who helped put an end to it. Christopher Nolan may not initially seem like the ideal fit for a biopic of anyone, less a notable historical figure – though he did give his own spin on WWII with Dunkirk – but he’s made one of his best films with Oppenheimer. Indeed, Nolan made a splash throughout his career with his Dark Knight trilogy, plus blockbuster original sci-fi films like Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet, so for the venerated director to choose a grounded subject matter came as a bit of a surprise when it was first announced.

There are, of course, flashes of the Nolan that his fans have come to appreciate throughout Oppenheimer. His longtime on-screen collaborator Cillian Murphy steps into the lead role as Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant physicist who led the Manhattan Project and later denounced the world’s access to atomic weapons. Murphy, who’s often been relegated to supporting performances, is brilliant in the role, elegantly capturing Oppenheimer’s scientific genius, his conflicted morality in the wake of the creation of the bomb – which is creatively expressed both internally and externally – and his guilt over his tumultuous affiliations earlier in life.

Since Inception, Nolan has yet to meet a film where he couldn’t feature multiple coalescing timelines prominently, and this film is no exception. Though keeping track of the when of it all is less confusing here, thanks to Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography (more on that in a minute), which is shown in color before the end of the war and monochrome afterwards. The film is structured into three separate acts, and at three hours long, it leaves about an hour per act. The first is dedicated to building Oppenheimer the man; who he is, who he associates with, and how he came to be so respected. Those going into the film only knowing the basics about Oppenheimer (myself included) will find plenty of worthwhile material besides the bomb-making, including Oppenheimer’s affiliation with supposed Communists, and the very real risk that the government saw in potential secrets being leaked to foreign powers.

The second act follows the Manhattan Project, where Oppenheimer and his team, including his military handler General Groves (Matt Damon), and a bevy of scientists played by the likes of Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, David Krumholtz, and more. Oppenheimer easily features Nolan’s most sprawling cast, and it can be easy to occasionally lose track of who’s who, but the film always comes back to Murphy. Emily Blunt, who appears as Kitty, Robert’s wife, makes a striking impact on the film, despite her limited screen time. Nolan’s Achilles heel has often been his depiction of women and, while Oppenheimer doesn’t feature much nuance this time around, Blunt and Florence Pugh, who plays a one-time lover of Oppenheimer, leave a lasting impact.

Oppenheimer’s third phase deals with the fallout of our usage of the nuclear bomb on Japan, and it’s here where Nolan’s instincts as a storyteller shine through. With both visual and written cues, Nolan taps into Oppenheimer’s conflicting loyalties over his creation, as he constantly sees death and destruction where he first felt pride. But he’s under attack from the same government that commissioned the bomb, as they begin to investigate his former Communist sympathies. One of his closest allies is Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a hopeful Cabinet appointee who sees Oppenheimer as an opportunity (for spoiler purposes I won’t explain why). Much like Murphy, Downey Jr. is giving perhaps a career-best performance in the film, as he shows all the ways a Washington politician can be both a friend and enemy simultaneously.

Christopher Nolan has long championed the theatrical experience, and fans of his films will not be disappointed if they see Oppenheimer on the biggest screen available. Every sweeping landscape and every explosive set piece (for lack of a better word) is given new life when seen in IMAX, as Nolan intended. The climactic scene where Oppenheimer’s team performs the first nuclear bomb test is worth the price of admission alone. Though the subject matter may not decry practicality as much as the aforementioned sci-fi adjacent films, it is no less appreciated here. Sets have a palpable heft, and are filled with enough period-specific details to draw you in. Nolan has often been derided for his use of sound, prone to drowning out spoken dialogue in favor of explosions or noise, but Oppenheimer’s sound is the best use of sound in any film this year. Yes, the explosions are loud, but it’s Nolan’s creative usage of sound that has stuck with me. One auditory motif that the film returns to sounds like the chugging of a train, but once its nature is revealed, it lends a brand new weight to the film’s themes.

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer is a decidedly American one, and Christopher Nolan has made a quintessential, urgent version of it. For all our ambition and pride, we too often don’t consider the consequences of our creations. Nolan could have easily rested on telling a straightforward accounting of a seminal figure’s life and work, but Oppenheimer thankfully has more on its mind. Here is a new American epic masquerading as a character study, a perfect marriage of story and spectacle, and a new high watermark for one of our most gifted contemporary filmmakers.

Oppenheimer will be released in theaters nationwide on July 21.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• As it stands right now (8+ months away), I see Oppenheimer as the Best Picture front-runner, and not from a lack of other worthwhile nominees. Nolan has been considered overdue, and if the film can sustain enough momentum, it feels like a worthy contender.
• Nolan feels like a shoe-in for a Best Director nomination, and the same for Best Adapted Screenplay
• It’s hard to tell how the Academy would feel about a character actor like Cillian Murphy, but the film simply would not work without his performance, so a Best Actor nomination would be well deserved.
• Robert Downey Jr. is a previous Oscar nominee, and he would make a great nominee here in Supporting Actor, if Universal makes a strong enough campaign. If the Academy really loves the film, don’t be surprised if other supporting performances get pulled along, like Emily Blunt or Matt Damon.
• Again, if the Academy falls in love with the film like I expect them to, be prepared for a bevy of technical nominations, including Production Design, Costumes, Hair & Makeup, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Original Score. Wins are undoubtedly questionable at this point, but I expect the film to compete in virtually each of those categories.