New Cillian Murphy Film Almost Beat ‘Oppenheimer’ with Critics

According to the critics, Cillian Murphy‘s new drama, Small Things Like These, was technically ‘better’ than Christopher Nolan’s mega-historical-hit, Oppenheimer. Murphy starred in and produced the new drama, directed by Tim Mielants. Like Oppenheimer, the film is based on a true story, dramatizing the infamous Irish Magdalene Laundries run by Roman Catholic organizations for over a century. Murphy’s performance has been heavily praised, as the actor plays Bill Furlong, who discovers that his local convent is abusing unmarried mothers, sex workers, and SA victims.

As the reviews came in for Small Things Like These, the movie eventually boasted an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Christopher Nolan-stans will proclaim Oppenheimer as the better film, the aggregate score from critics’ reviews disagreed, with Nolan’s WWII-set biopic sitting just behind Small Things Like These with an impressive 93%. MovieWeb’s own Will Sayre described Murphy’s performance as “daring,” and rated the film 4/5. He wrote:

“Small Things Like These supplies Murphy with one of his best performances to date — conveniently timed close to Nolan’s WWII masterpiece, of course.”

Sheila O’Malley of RogerEbert.com shares the same view, smothering Murphy’s performance with praise. They wrote, “[Murphy’s] is a marvel of a performance, extremely expressive and yet deeply inward-looking.” Jillian Chillingerian of Offscreen Central took it a step further. Not only is Murphy’s portrayal of Bill Furlong one of the standout performances of the year, but Small Things Like These is “one of the most important films of the year.”Collider’s Emma Kiely lathered similar praise on the film, writing:

“That’s what makes Tim Mierlants’ Small Things Like These such a special but harrowing film. It’s one of the most accurate portrayals of Irish life, and it also peels back that happy-go-luck spirit that other countries define us by.”

However, what a difference a day makes — the addition of just a few reviews has upset the victory of Small Things Like These, with Oppenheimer regaining its supremacy on Saturday. The Rotten Tomatoes score for Small Things Like These dropped from 94% to 92% — still highly acclaimed, but just short of toppling Oppenheimer.

Cillian Murphy Continues to Shine as an Actor

Has Cillian Murphy ever turned in a bad performance? The Irish star broke onto the scene with his leading role in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (which he earned from his performance in Disco Pigs). Just three years later, Murphy was terrifying audiences as Dr. Jonathan Crane in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. That began a long and prosperous partnership between the pair. Murphy returned for all three Dark Knight films, and re-united with Nolan for Inception, Dunkirk, and, much later, Oppenheimer.

In between bringing Christopher Nolan’s characters to life, the actor has become synonymous with Birmingham’s most iconic fictional gangster, Thomas Shelby, in the multi-award winning Peaky Blinders. However, Murphy has given dozens of underappreciated performances over the last 25 years. Sunshine, Free Fire, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, The Party, and even the animated Kensuke’s Kingdom were all tremendous films with standout performances from Murphy.

Next in the pipeline for the actor is the long-awaited 28 Years Later. Shooting has reportedly wrapped on the film, and fans cannot wait to see Danny Boyle and Murphy re-unite, alongside franchise newcomers Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes. Cillian Murphy will also be returning to Birmingham in the near future to round out the Peaky Blinders story. The beloved series came to an end after its sixth season in 2022, but Thomas Shelby’s story will be wrapped up in the new feature film, which drops on Netflix in 2025.