CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S much-anticipated “Oppenheimer” is set for release on the Chinese mainland Aug. 30.

When it opened in North America and other regions last weekend, the movie crushed box-office expectations, generating a remarkable US$82.4 million in North America and US$180 million globally in its opening weekend. It’s a dazzling start for a three-hour-long period piece with little action and lots of talking.

Based on the 2005 book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, “Oppenheimer” stars Nolan’s frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy as theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967). The film tracks Oppenheimer as he launches the Manhattan Project and oversees the creation of the atom bomb.

“I think of any character I’ve dealt with, Oppenheimer is by far the most ambiguous and paradoxical,” said Nolan.

“You realize this is a huge responsibility. He was complicated and contradictory and so iconic,” Murphy has previously said of taking on the character.

“The script was so emotional, and it reads like a thriller,” added Emily Blunt, who stars as Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine, a biologist.

Joining Murphy and Blunt in the cast are Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director General Leslie Groves Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and more also star.

Associated Press called the movie “a spectacular achievement in its truthful, concise adaptation, inventive storytelling and nuanced performances from many involved.”

“Totally absorbed in ‘Oppenheimer,’ a dense, talkie, tense film partly about the bomb, mostly about how doomed we are,” The Sunday Times wrote.

The Los Angeles Times hailed “Oppenheimer” as “arguably Nolan’s most impressive work yet in the way it combines his acknowledged visual mastery with one of the deepest character dives in recent American cinema.”   (SD-Agencies)