Review of Anthropoid (2016) by Spangle — 07 Jan 2017

A lovingly shot, but cliched historical action thriller, Anthropoid is an above average film. Telling the true story about the men responsible for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, third-in-command for the Nazis, the film is clearly powerful. An undertold story of the strength of the Czechoslovakian resistance and an obviously important moment in World War II, Operation Anthropoid receives its due regards in this film from director Sean Ellis. Unfortunately, it is a mixed bag. While it has terrific cinematography, good acting, and a tremendous assassination, the latter comes too early and the film loses steam. Of course, the cliched beginning with a love triangle and the cliched WWII action sequence at the end also hinder the game. That said, the assassination is so damn good.

Starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan as the men responsible for the assassination, Anthropoid's greatest asset is the assassination sequence. As most people should know (I ashamedly did not), they were successful to a degree. It is likely that Sean Ellis assumed building up to such a well known event would not be suspenseful enough. However, he is shown to be wrong. In the first half of this film, the build up, the planning, and the anxiety of the situation are terrifically captured. The following nervy, thrilling, and suspenseful assassination is tremendously captured. Ellis' camera makes the occasion incredibly intimate with a cloud of smoke billowing out of the area in the aftermath. The intensity of the lead up and the panic of the moments directly after is incredibly effective in setting the moment and capturing it with beautiful images and a tremendous action sequence. Rather than playing into cliches here, the film sets it apart with a unique, intense, and unexpected moment of brilliance. It also makes me want to see Jamie Dornan in a neo-noir film set in the 1940s. The suit and fedora look is just so right for him.

The other strength of this film is the cinematography and production design. Shot through a sepia filter, the film looks old school and, in conjunction with the sets and locations, looks and feels authentic. Anthropoid really captures 1942 Czechoslovakia and turns it into a beautiful painting. To bolster this, Ellis sprinkles in some absolutely gorgeous shots. These include shots of the sun spilling through the sees in a forest and an aerial shot a bridge in Prague and sun reflecting off the water and the rays going under the bridge. With these shots and the general aesthetic under its belt, WWII Czechoslovakia has never looked so good and Ellis makes sure to capture this beauty.

Unfortunately, its love triangle and cliched second half derail the film. With boring scenes of torture and a lackluster finale shootout in a church, Anthropoid turns into nothing more than a run-of-the-mill action thriller. The power that this really happened does not help as numerous true stories have shown the exact same action. This bad ending is proof that the assassination came too soon. It should have been the climax instead. The film would have been more detailed and a lot slower for sure, but its ending would have been worthy of the heroism on display. It is the moment that sets its heroes apart. Instead of ending there, however, Ellis' film drags on for a cliched final hour that turns them into nothing more than soldiers in a World War II film. Their identities are forgotten with writing that failed to create worthwhile characters that are memorable. They may die in a hail of bullets, but the film was killed long before. Now, I should say that the action sequence is fine. It looks good and is pretty thrilling, but there are too many films with it that pretend to be WWII thrillers. This sea of bullets turns it into nothing more than a cliched film with no element to separate it from similar films.

Tremendously shot with a great assassination sequence, Anthropoid may be pretty, but it is nothing but above average. The ending is cliched, the characters underdeveloped, and the romance ill-advised. That said, the strengths of the film are so incredible, Anthropoid is impossible to look past.