Film Review: Nuremberg 紐倫堡大審判 (2025) - USA
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia)
I rated it 8/10
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
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A Chilling Autopsy of Evil in the Guise of Civilization - American Director James Vanderbilt's “Nuremberg” arrives not as a mere history lesson, but as a stark, gripping interrogation lamp aimed squarely at the darkest corners of the human soul. It’s a film that understands the Nuremberg trials were less about legal precedent in a vacuum and more a global reckoning with the very nature of evil. Does it achieve profound, lasting insight? Not entirely, occasionally slipping into comfortable moral shorthand. But does it deliver a solid, engaging, and urgently relevant piece of cinema? Absolutely. This is prestige drama with the pulse of a psychological thriller, earning its marks by forcing us to stare into the abyss alongside those who did the same in 1945.
The film’s undeniable engine is Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring. Forget bombast; Crowe delivers a masterclass in subtle, nuanced malevolence, arguably his finest work in years. His Göring is no cartoon monster, but a chillingly plausible creature of cunning and vanity, radiating a seductive menace beneath the Reichsmarschall's decaying facade. He understands power, manipulation, and the terrifying fragility of the civilized world he helped shatter. This is a commanding presence, a performance that compels even as it repulses.
Opposite him stands Rami Malek as Dr. Douglas Kelley, the American psychiatrist tasked with unraveling Göring's psyche. Malek’s performance is a tightly wound coil of intellectual fervor and creeping dread. Some will find it highly personalized, even overwrought at moments, but I argue this intensity is the point. Kelley isn't just studying Göring; he's locked in a desperate, high-stakes psychological duel, wrestling not only with a master manipulator but with the horrifying implications of Göring’s very existence. Malek’s tightly wound energy fuels the film’s core – a gripping game of cat-and-mouse where the stakes are the definition of humanity itself. They are supported ably by the stoic dedication of Michael Shannon and Richard E. Grant, grounding the procedural elements.
Vanderbilt smartly avoids getting bogged down solely in the judicial mechanics. His focus is laser-sharp on the collision of humanity, morality, and legality in that scarred Nuremberg courtroom. The film grapples earnestly with the banality of evil, showing how monstrous acts were orchestrated not by frothing beasts, but by men in suits who filed paperwork over lunch. This exploration gives “Nuremberg” its disturbing power and transforms it into a powerful warning. When the film punctuates its narrative with actual archive footage from the liberated concentration camps, the effect is beyond harrowing – it’s sobering, necessary, and leaves the audience breathless, a visceral reminder of the horrendous pain and suffering that necessitated this trial.
Technically, the film is a triumph of immersion. The stunning recreation of the Palace of Justice courtroom feels palpably real, a stage set for this unprecedented drama. The costumes are meticulous, the cinematography captures both the grand scale and the intimate, sweaty tension. The sound design is spectacular, pulling you into the echoing chamber and the hushed, fraught conversations. Remarkably, for a 140-minute historical piece, the pacing feels snappy, almost incredibly short, a testament to Vanderbilt’s smart script and snappy direction that keeps the complex narrative driving forward.
It is not without substantive flaws. The film occasionally succumbs to classic Hollywood US-centrism, simplifying the intricate, truly international nature of the tribunal. A few historical liberties are taken, and some dialogue feels too modern or overly theatrical for 1945, momentarily breaking the spell of authenticity. These are minor stumbles in the grand scheme, but they remind us we're watching an interpretation, not a documentary.
“Nuremberg” ultimately succeeds because it understands that this trial was about delving into the core of human nature—its most disturbing facets. Russell Crowe embodies that disturbing facet with terrifying plausibility. Rami Malek embodies the desperate struggle to comprehend it. Vanderbilt’s film forces us to ask: What happens when the devil doesn’t come with horns, but in an expensive uniform, smiling, articulate, and utterly devoid of remorse? “Nuremberg” doesn’t provide easy answers, but it compels us to confront the question anew, making it not just a solid watch, but a necessary and chilling one for our times. (Neo, 2026)