Anthropoid

The assassination of Heydrich is undoubtedly a very strong theme, which this time was taken up by several countries, which had both advantages and disadvantages. For me personally, the biggest stumbling block was the unconvincing and dull performance of the actors in the first two thirds of the film, which was to some extent also caused by the fact that none of the actors used their mother tongue. I would honestly put the romantic line aside completely, because I found it mostly redundant. Nevertheless, the film picks up from the interrogations and the final church siege was very well shot and staged. Pity about the lacklustre and uninteresting (two-thirds of the way through) start. (07/04/2020)

A bleak, exclusively interior film with little panache. It's a bit of a shame, but you don't come across Spielberg every day, so the artistry is for next time. Fortunately, Anthropoid makes up for this with passion for the material, tenacity and a gripping last half hour. Murphy and Dornan are awesome. The testimonial value is of course next level. (24/10/2016)

The expectations were sky-high and the result was definitely worth it. Having said that, I definitely recommend watching this movie – if possible – with dubbing. This might be the only movie for which I would recommend that, but at the same time I believe that it’s still better than listening to that “Czech” English spoken by English actors, which, according to the director, was his intention to be able to differentiate Czechs from Germans. And I don’t hold it against him. I got over it quite quickly, but I understand that it might be grating for some people. What was worse was the camera, which in some crucial action scenes was flying around like a rag on the broom wielded by a Ukrainian cleaning lady. But what the hell, I got over that as well and I have to admit that despite some uncertainty during the assassination scene, I was literally excited about the final scene in the church. And that was despite the camera flying about, which added the right amount of confusion to the scene and thus created undoubtedly the best war scene of the past few years. But it’s not only about these individual things. Anthropoid deserves praise mainly as a whole. I don’t think I’ve seen such cooperation between Czech and English filmmakers. That cooperation alone makes the movie unique in my mind. If somebody is giving this a two-star review, I guess they watched the same movie but didn’t perceive what I did. This was the first time that somebody wanted to take a story from Czech, or rather Czechoslovak history and present it to the whole world. And Adam Ellis was a great choice in my opinion. This incredibly sad story deserves global attention. And I believe that Anthropoid did its best! (03/10/2016)

No other foreign film has pleased me so much as a Czech patriot. The first half is more or less mandatory, in order to introduce the main characters and their resistance and love personalities, but the second half, from the beginning of the assassination to the final shot, swept me away thanks to the brilliant dramatic timing, the beautiful raw action and the flawlessly orchestrated emotions. And I experienced the glorious church battle with the characters, even though the outcome was inevitable. The moment Cillian Murphy, by now a truly deserving member of my acting top 20, shouted "We are Czechs!", all my hair stood on end, including the ones I’ve already lost, and in a rush of euphoria I had an irrepressible urge to confirm his patriotic cry with several pints of proud Czech beer. While it’s disappointing that there’s little space for the villains (this is a film about Nazis with by far the fewest swastikas on the screen), I’m impressed by the very honest and emotional treatment of the courageous victims, and pleased by the performance of not only Murphy but also the convincing Dornan. Only that instead of Geislerová the creators could have used the burgeoning sex appeal of Vika Kerekes, Anya is getting on in years and the make-up artists didn't exactly help her much. (17/12/2016)

Of course we would prefer if it was made by Spielberg or Polanski with their elegant optics and artistic touch. Anthropoid has nothing like that. But let’s be glad Sean Ellis made it into at least a decent action thriller. The actors are fine given that the screenplay doesn’t give them much to work with and the period atmosphere is captured well. Ellis also gives it the necessary momentum, like a mechanical but skillful cameraman who knows how to achieve both dynamics and fluidity. The climax in the cathedral is satisfactorily long and precisely escalated. And the main thing: when watching Anthropoid, I was proud for a moment that I come from Czechoslovakia. (04/10/2016)