Review of Operation Finale (2018) by Greg C — 31 Aug 2018

Our protagonist and his team strive to strike a blow against later day Nazis, in a movie tagged with a news footage retrospective over the closing credits, but this time the film is not from Spike Lee.

In 1961 Israel sends a Mossad squad to snatch and retrieve Adolf Eichmann from his refuge in Buenos Aires. If you don't count Iron Man 3, Ben Kingsley is one of the most skilled actors alive today.

Kingley's Adolf Eichmann is a character you cannot pry your eyes away from every moment he is on screen. It is not a simplistic 2-dimensional character. It is more of a complex layered evil, if you will.

The core of the movie is an extended interrogation of sorts, which establishes a verbal tango of a relationship between Eichmann and Peter Malkin played by Oscar Isaac. Had this been a winter movie release, I would expect an Oscar nod or two.

Kingsley may indeed end up in the running in a supporting actor category. The film in its 1960's milieu and its study of Mossad and Argentina of the time is very well made. The score of the opening credits is jarringly cartoonish, but later in the film as the drama and suspense set in, the musical score has some perfect moments.

Some of the extra bits of romance and thriller drama are not essential to heart of this film, but in the end the product is a really good one. Operation Finale rides well on the shoulders of the 2 principal actors.