To be fair to Oppenheimer, whose first real trailer dropped today (and runs a full three minutes), the build-up for this robust tease was several dozen days in the making.
Universal Pictures dropped a bizarre countdown clock for Christopher Nolan’s next film on July 28, 2022, ticking away until the film’s July 21, 2023 release—a.k.a., the day the movie’s own theoretical “bomb” goes off. And while that clock is still at it, this full-fledged trailer is certainly more useful for filmgoers to pore over than just some endlessly spinning, black-and-white first-look footage.
No, based on this real trailer, Oppenheimer actually has some color in it! And those colors, while mostly orange, gray, and brown, look damn good when mashed together. I’d rather you set those three minutes aside to watch this gorgeous, engrossing, sweeping look at the epic-scale summer blockbuster Nolan’s got on deck for us, rather than just read me prattling on about it. But I will pump it up by saying that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie certainly has met its match for most exciting film to release July 21, 2023.
Brass tacks: Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man behind the atomic bomb, as he grows dizzy with military-grade power. Joined by US Army officer Leslie Groves (a very Matt Damon-y Matt Damon) and fellow nuclear scientist Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr., in old-man makeup), Murphy starts up the Manhattan Project. But that comes at an emotional cost, as his wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) grows increasingly despondent during—and suspicious of—a lockdown imposed by the engineers upon their families.
Action! Thrills! Heart! History! Very good suits and hats! Matt Damon’s hilarious mustache! A very sad-looking Albert Einstein! Genuinely, this movie has almost everything one wants from a summer film. Since it’s directed by Nolan, there may even be a twist. (Although, since this is based on history, probably not.) The only things missing are hot-pink flare pants and rollerblades, but you can head over to the screening room next door and follow up Oppenheimer with Barbie for those.
On that note, here’s my suggestion to those debating which film to go see July 21:
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