Nuremberg movie review: Russell Crowe is riveting as Hitler’s No. 2 Hermann Göring

This uneven tone, between what it hopes to be and what it is, runs through not just the film but also its performances. There’s an impressive line-up of actors here: Crowe as Hitler’s No. 2 Hermann Göring, Malek as Major Douglas Kelley, the US Army psychiatrist sent to evaluate him and the other Nazi top brass for trial; Shannon as Justice Jackson, the US Supreme Court judge who is leading the prosecution; Grant as his British colleague on the team; Woodall as Sgt Trieste, who accompanies Kelley during his interviews of Nazi officials; and, briefly, Hanks as a second psychiatrist brought in to assist Kelley.

Crowe chews up all pitted against him, growing into his role as the manipulative, narcissistic Göring who declares right at the beginning that he will escape the hangman’s noose. Shannon holds his own (as far as the script allows), against Crowe’s Göring, but Malek, falling back on his facial tics and grimaces, is like an ill-prepared opponent thrown into the ring against a gladiator.

Given that most of Nuremberg is about the interaction between Göring and Kelley, and what it tells us about the Nazis and us, Malek never appears to be up to Crowe’s games – though we are supposed to believe he does.

In fact, so naive is this Kelley that he falls for the oldest trick in the book, a mysterious, beautiful woman at the bar. Even if his affection towards Göring can be understood, his visits to the Nazi officer’s wife and daughter in hiding are incredulous.

The others mostly watch from the sidelines, like us, struck from time to time at the procedural complications, details and consequences that the Nuremberg trials entailed. One of the most striking scenes is when footage of the concentration camps is played. It’s the first time that the world is seeing what really transpired at what Göring continues to insist were just “work camps” to house prisoners of war.

As the more gory details play in the darkened courtroom, Göring reaches out for dark glasses (provided to them to guard against the glare of the overhead lights) and headphones. As a disturbed Kelley leaves by the door next to him, Göring looks straight ahead.

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That small move tells us more about the evil of man – which Kelley ultimately hopes to define in a bestselling book – than all of Nuremberg’s grand gestures.

Nuremberg movie cast: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Robert E Grant, Leo Woodall, Colin Hanks, Jack Slattery
Nuremberg movie director: James Vanderbilt
Nuremberg movie rating: 3 stars