The cinematic battle of ages still goes on between Oppenheimer and Barbie, but as far as the critics are concerned, it seems that only one film is going to be taking the trophy home.
While Greta Gerwig’s new film has also received rave reviews from the media, currently sitting at 89% certified fresh on RottenTomatoes and 81/100 on Metacritic, Oppenheimer is by far the better movie if you happen to be among those who take these aggregations seriously. Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s new biopic is ruling both websites with 97% on RottenTomatoes and 90/100 on Metacritic at the time of this writing.
The Rotten result we were expecting, but it’s not every day that a movie flies past 90 on Metacritic and its rigorous score metrics. We expect this average to come down as more reviews sweep in, but the gap between the two films is quite clear.
A lot of high-profile outlets, including The Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, Empire, Observer, The BBC, IGN, Total Film, and The Atlantic have given Oppenheimer the perfect 10/10 score, describing the film as a rare spectacle that will definitely go down as one of Nolan’s best films to date, if not the best.
Other critics aren’t far behind on that hype train, applauding Christopher Nolan’s direction, the bold script, and Cillian Murphy’s otherworldly performance as the titular J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Of course, if you’re an avid Chris Nolan fan, you shouldn’t start celebrating yet. While Oppenheimer may have come out the victor from the critical battle, the box office competition is still yet to be decided.