Review of Operation Finale (2018) by Compi24 — 31 Aug 2018

Nazis are easy targets. And rightfully, considering every nefarious, disastrous, and unspeakable action owned by the regime they called their own. It's easy (and also frequently effective) to portray them in films as the monsters we all suspect them as.

The gravelly voices. The slimy sneers. The disfigured faces, at times. It all fits with the moral underpinnings of the greater organization they all represent. It's a comfortable, cognitively palatable image, but it's the more compelling, difficult, and cognitively dissonant image that we're not used to seeing -- the calm demeanor, the use of humor, the employment of seemingly logical philosophies to justify abhorrent atrocities -- that makes the man at the center of "Operation Finale" so fascinating to watch.

Part kidnapping and part vengeance flick, "Operation Finale" rides high on its incredible true story and circumstances, its truly noteworthy performance work, and its undeniably well-conceived screenplay, ultimately delivering a wallop of a motion picture that's as difficult and as nerve-shredding as it is satisfying and informative.