NUREMBERG
Starring: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Leo Woodall, Michael Shannon, John Slattery, Mark O'Brien, and Richard E. Grant
Director: James Vanderbilt
QUENTIN
Although it certainly has moments when it feels more like a history lesson than it should, the fact remains that it’s a lesson some still need to learn. Through powerhouse performances, particularly from an Oscar-worthy Russell Crowe who somehow gives Hermann Göring humanity, director James Vanderbilt delivers a compelling courtroom drama that, surprisingly, mostly lets the facts speak for themselves without sensationalizing them (not that he really needed to). It can, admittedly, get a little preachy, but like I said, this is a sermon that many people still need to hear, sadly. Nuremberg is a dark horse Oscar player.
AMARÚ
For a two-and-a-half hour movie about one of the darkest parts of world history, Nuremberg is a breakneck tour de force of actors chewing the hell out of their respective scenery. Russell Crowe is as enticing as evil is allowed to be, Michael Shannon has a quiet force that only he can muster, and Rami Malek hasn’t been this engrossing in a long while. The gripping drama is as compellingly written and performed as an Aaron Sorkin thriller, just without the word-per-minute quota. It touches the melodramatic quite a few times, but the psychological cat-and-mouse is so intriguing that it fits the verbal tête-à-têtes quite well.
NICK
To anyone who forgot how good of an actor Russell Crowe is, he is here to emphatically remind you in Nuremberg. Crowe is quietly menacing as Hermann Göring, but more impressive is the humanity he brings to Adolf Hitler's second-in-command. This makes the evil hit harder, especially when contrasted against the members of the prosecution, including Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, and Leo Woodall, all of whom are great in their own right. Look, Nuremberg may feel like a history lesson, but it's one that kept me engaged the entire runtime. Also, sadly, one that is all too prevalent today.
ADRIANO
While in many ways Nuremberg is sluggish dad porn, I also think it's riskier than I assumed it would be. The writing, while not perfectly focused, does attempt to ask viewers to see the atrocities of the Holocaust through the lens that human beings carried them out, an angle that can be haunting (i.e., The Zone of Interest). But James Vanderbilt's direction weighs this down. It's a tonal mismash that's lethargically paced, with cinematography as grey as a Ridley Scott movie. Despite excellent performances from Rami Malek and Russell Crowe, Nuremberg is a potentially interesting but ultimately fine film.
This film was reviewed by Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Zurich Film Festival.