Director: James Vanderbilt
Starring: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Leo Woodall and Michael Shannon
Rating: ★★★.5
James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg retells the historical trials of Nazi war criminals as a sharply staged psychological drama. Written and directed by James Vanderbilt – whose screenplay for Zodiac proved his affinity for the moral gray zone – the film brings together a powerhouse cast led by Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon. What unfolds is part courtroom thriller, part moral study, exploring how charisma, ambition and guilt can co-exist in the shadow of unimaginable atrocities.
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Good
James directs with a blend of precision and elegance. The courtroom scenes are full of energy, the dialogue plays with a rhythm reminiscent of Aaron Sorkin, and the moral tension rarely wanes. The visual textures – dim rooms, measured silences, burdens of bureaucracy – evoke old-school Hollywood dramas but with a modern psychological edge.
Russell dominates in every frame of his. His Goring is equal parts demonic and magnetic, a man who understands performance as power. Russell gives him both the arrogance of a politician and the menace of a general who knows what he has done. He delivers his lines with amazing charm, turning even moments of levity into acts of quiet terror.
Michaels adds weight as Justice Robert H. Jackson, the American prosecutor determined to hold the Nazis accountable, while Leo Woodall provides the film’s emotional anchor as Kelly’s translator, a moral compass amid all the grandeur. James’s screenplay is at its strongest in the exchanges between Goring and Kelly – intimate conversations that blur the lines between curiosity and complicity, forcing the viewer to confront uncomfortable questions about how evil rationalizes itself.
bad
Despite its entertaining setup, the film sometimes loses its seriousness. The first act often flirts with glaring humor and stylish excess, as if fearing that modern audiences might be left out without the cinematic polish. Rami’s performance, while committed, sometimes feels out of place – her portrayal of Kelly, with her quick wit and flirtatious swag, doesn’t always mesh with the film’s darker tone.
The screenplay, at times, relies too heavily on performances and polished exchanges, losing out on the raw emotion that the story demands. Even when James displays actual archival footage from the concentration camps – the film’s most sobering moment – the contrast between the real and the recreated exposes the film’s glaring artificiality.
Decision
nuremberg The uneven portrait of one of history’s most defining reckonings is a compelling one. James’s film succeeds as a character study – a clash between intelligence and ego trying to find their footing against the backdrop of justice. But its attraction to show sometimes obscures the moral clarity it seeks to evoke.
Still, Russell Crowe’s stellar performance as Adolf Hitler’s No. 2 lifts the film beyond its occasional mistakes. He turns Goring into both a symbol and a warning – of how power thrives on persuasion, and how the language of patriotism can hide demonic intent. Nuremberg may not rewrite the rule book for World War II dramas, but it is a chilling reminder that the spectacle of justice can sometimes mirror the spectacle of crime.