Nuremberg reflects on events from 80 years ago, with the words “For those who lived it, and those who didn’t”, and brings us the famous Trials when the Nazi Command were finally brought before a court exactly 80 years ago, as they took place from November 20th 1945, up until October 1st 1946.
Opening on May 7th, 1945, it’s the the last day of the war, and since Hitler has already topped himself, Hermann Göring finally gives himself up when he realises he can’t run any further, and Russell Crowe was surprisingly good in the role, when I expected him to be a bit hammy, as he was in Kraven The Hunter.
All will kneel before Zod, as Michael Shannon (Death By Lightning) takes the role of Justice Robert H. Jackson, who’s prosecuting them, but there’s no legal precident in a court of law for such crimes, so initially, they don’t know what to charge them with.
Brought in to assist is psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek – The Amateur) to psych-eval Göring – who’s pleased cell is German-built, as well as being over-confident about his chances – and the others in the Nazi command, and he wants to work out what makes them all tick.
Obviously, everything that happened at the hand of the Nazis is one of the most despicable acts ever carried out against humanity, but if we were to hide away from seeing such films like this, we wouldn’t be able to learn and move forward. No doubt, in the years to come, films will be made about the time Benjamin Netanyahu was lynched and hung from a lamppost for his Gaza genocide.
As a film, Nuremberg is a solid pot-boiler of a drama with great acting from all concerned – including Richard E Grant (The Thursday Murder Club) as British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, Leo Woodall (Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy) as Sergeant Howie Triest, and Colin Hanks (son of Tom, and in the recent Nobody 2) as another psychiatrist, Dr. Gustave Gilbert – also throwing in occasional cuts to black-and-white as the court is filled back, showing how this is a faithful recreation of the actual trial. However, there are some slower moments in the film which could be tightened up, and when I’m generally watching 3 or 4 films in one day, such things do take their toll, even if some might say that’s my own first-world problems.
However, for a scene involving journalist Lila McQuaide (Lydia Peckham), for a particular scene of hers, for 1945, she does rather file her news story much more quickly than I would expect, so within a few hours it’s suddenly headline news. It’s not as if she texted it in to the boss and they went to print immediately, so I call BS on the timeline for that one.
Nuremberg runs 148 minutes, but the end credits do begin to kick in at the 2:15 mark. However, the film does have a fantastic score, and I didn’t have another film to run off to, so continued to enjoy it. For some reason, in screen 5, no-one remembered to program the lights to come back on once the film had ended, so it was a bit of a pain to get my stuff together afterwards and make sure I didn’t forget anything, but… yes, first-world problems.
NOTE: There are no mid, nor post-credits scenes.
Nuremberg is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 148 minutes
Release date: November 14th 2025
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7/10
Director: James Vanderbilt
Producers: Bradley J Fischer, George Freeman, Cherilyn Hawrysh, István Major, Richard Saperstein, William Sherak, Frank Smith, Benjamin Tappan, James Vanderbilt
Screenplay: James Vanderbilt
Novel: Jack El-Hai (The Nazi and the Psychiatrist)
Music: Brian Tyler
Cast:
Justice Robert H. Jackson: Michael Shannon
Hermann Göring: Russell Crowe
Douglas Kelley: Rami Malek
Lila McQuaide: Lydia Peckham
Sergeant Howie Triest: Leo Woodall
Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe: Richard E Grant
Dr. Gustave Gilbert: Colin Hanks
Colonel Burton C. Andrus: John Slattery
Elsie: Wrenn Schmidt
Emmy: Lotte Verbeek
Rudolf Hess: Andreas Pietschmann
Colonel John Amen: Mark O’Brien
Colonel Franks: Wayne Brett
Karl Dönitz: Peter Jordan
Cardinal: Ralph Berkin
General Phipps: Jeremy Wheeler
Edda Göring: Fleur Bremmer
Julius Streicher: Dieter Riesle
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.