Five minutes from ‘Oppenheimer’ debut before film hits theaters next week

The hype for Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer is already at a fever pitch, but for those who can’t wait to see it in theaters July 21, a five-minute peek at Nolan’s drama is now available online.

Billed as an “Opening Look” at Nolan’s latest epic, the sneak peek begins in black and white. Robert Downey Jr.’s U.S. Atomic Energy Commissioner Lewis Strauss takes Cillian Murphy‘s J. Robert Oppenheimer to task after reading a report that the Russians tested an atomic bomb.

The scene appears to be after Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project created the bombs that ended World War II — a development that subsequently started a nuclear arms race with the Soviets.

“The Russians have the bomb,” Strauss says. “I thought we were supposed to be years ahead of them?!”

“We were in a race against the Nazis,” Oppenheimer huffs.

“So now the race is against the Soviets,” Strauss says, to which Oppenheimer replies, “Not unless we start it.”

“Robert: They just fired a starting gun,” Strauss snaps back.

After this exchange, the footage segues into a series of various snippets from the film.

Matt Damon also steps into the spotlight in the snippet as Leslie Groves, a lieutenant general who served as director of the Manhattan Project.

Groves at one point asks Oppenheimer, “Are we saying there’s a chance that when we push that button we destroy the world?”

The preview segues into a montage of stunning visuals from cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema and set to the stirring score from Ludwig Göransson, with peeks of the other stars, including Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s botanist wife, Kitty, and Florence Pugh as Oppenheimer’s other love interest, Jean Tatlock.

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