Piercing Blue eyes that stare into the windows of your soul, Cillian Murphy captures your attention in a millisecond.
For the last 20-plus years, Cillian Murphy has graced our screens as Christopher Nolan’s favorite supporting actor to the lead of indie films that never got a distribution deal. Whatever the role he has stepped up to deliver every single time which makes his Oscar nomination for his mainstream film leading turn so well deserved.

Cillian Murphy is not a method actor, he inhibits a role for the duration of however long filming is. Takes himself away from his cozy home to get in the mindset of whoever he is tackling. Christopher Nolan finally tapping his number one boy for a leading role feels like an entire career culminating in one major moment. What makes Cillian special is his approach to each character, we see him look mostly the same, never changing physically, but being able to use his skills to either project or minimize himself depending on the situation his characters find themselves in. Oppenheimer is a spectacle for Cillian to showcase this talent playing the Father of the Atomic Bomb, probably one of the most charismatic yet insecure men you will ever face. Murphy has to navigate a changing world as a man who knows too much for his good, setting every interaction and moment as a consequential chain reaction that implodes at the very end.

Oppenheimer is dependent on its titular character to hold down the core connecting all the ideas, genres, and characters within Nolan’s words. Cillian can bridge the gap between the exciting pre-Trinity sequences to the more mundane post-Trinity act of the film, which is arguably the best part of the film. We journey through a scraggly genius in his early 20s to his older moments when all is said and done and Murphy makes every moment believable.

Oppenheimer is by no way a hero, but it’s Nolan and Murphy’s handling of the character that creates beauty from the darkness as this world is so fully fleshed out thanks to the incredible craftsmanship allowing the actors to become these iconic figures of history. For these interactions to come together it is important the main actor has a repertoire with each of their scene partners and Murphy certainly ignites chemistry with everyone he shares the screen with making each lasting moment feel like the most important moment of the story. The scenes he shares with Josh Hartnett and David Krumholtz are truly spectacular in how much he allows this relationship to show the real Oppie both brilliant and flawed. The story works cyclically mainly due to the conversations shared between actors making major payoff for the audience. Even when he goes against Pash and we see Oppie starting to slip as he has to hold back but for once might be caught, it is a terrifying scene that leaves you on the edge of your seat just by watching three men talk. It is this leadership that allows not only himself to shine but also those around him.

Murphy is so consumed in the complexities of Oppie juggling his moral struggle that is never resolved by the end subverting movie expectations to wrap up a story neatly. The goal of Oppenheimer is never to get the audience to share empathy or redeem this man for what he has done. Cillian Murphy grasps this concept and uses the story to show the trajectory of Oppie in a certain aspect of his life without having to add additional details to get the audience to think one way or another about him. It is not about matching the exacts of Oppenheimer but the essence of who he was and Cillian embraces the essence as a leader in his approach to the role. He is a symbol of the flaws of the world and by taking an idea instead of an impersonation it makes the movie what it is. Stepping into this world about 8 times, you always feel like you are returning to familiarity largely due to how everyone embodies their characters throughout decades, timelines, and locations and Cillian can bring it all together to seamlessly navigate the narrative.

Using his gift of minimizing and projects, we follow him throughout 40 years of his lifespan, picking up on his physicality and habits. Cillian sets the movement of Oppie early on as he grows into the body of this man only to shrivel back up during his later moments of taking the punishment to clear his consciousness for what he did. He is a bit of a narcissist but his nativity blinds his self-awareness until the very end when he gains consciousness that he knows he has to undertake the beating to soften his lasting image. It is when you realize his awareness that he has to lose to win the entire narrative changes in how he operates his own redemption for himself.

There is such an effortlessness in his charisma and understanding of who this man was that is consistent throughout the entire film. His major moments aren’t even him raising his voice but when he is still and lets his face do most of the communicating. Some of my favorite moments are the little comedic bits Murphy puts in through his expressions and body that alleviate tension and show the naturalness of a role like this. David Bowie was a big inspiration for Oppie’s silhouette and that rockstar quality translates over into how Cillian plays the scientist. He knows how to work a room and we see all sides to the point of his downfall where all power is lost.

The airy breaths in his mid-Atlantic mixed with his sculpted face and IMAX sparkling blue eyes tone immediately alarm the mind to hyper-fixate on the entire 3 hours. His face is built to be projected on the largest screens in the clearest quality and Christopher Nolan uses that to his advantage to successfully immerse the audience into the POV of Oppie. His commanding voice transforms him into the physicist about to take on one of the most important moments in world history. We feel the intensity and he never lets it crack until the moment he understands his actions but must put on the facade to keep going. Oppenheimer is by no means a perfect man and we have seen various interactions of the man too naive for his brilliance, but Cillian Murphy tones down the overexagerations creating a captivating portrait of a man beyond his time. For one of the most anticipated films of 2023 that is sure to increase your own anxieties about the world, Cillian Murphy is holding down a calmness to the film that keeps it grounded.

A man who is 5’7 being an absolute force balancing both a hero and villain in the same film is not an easy task and Cillian Murphy makes it look so easy.

Oppenheimer is currently streaming on Peacock and back in select theaters.
You can find our review of the film here.