James Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg — a 2025 courtroom drama built around the early postwar trials — has become a lightning rod. Russell Crowe’s portrayal of Hermann Göring drew praise even as critics faulted the film’s tone and blunt political allegory; its modest box-office and polarizing coda make the movie a conversation piece now.

What happened

Nuremberg, written and directed by James Vanderbilt and based on Jack El-Hai’s book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, began filming in February 2024 and opened in theaters in the 2025 holiday season. The story centers on American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (played by Rami Malek) and the prosecutors who assembled the first Nuremberg Trial, including Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon). Russell Crowe plays Hermann Göring.

Key facts

  • Director/writer: James Vanderbilt
  • Source: The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El‑Hai
  • Principal cast: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, Colin Hanks
  • Reported budget: about $11.8 million; U.S. box office: roughly $14.5 million (Box Office Mojo)

Critical reception: strong lead, uneven execution

Reviews have been split. Many critics singled out Crowe’s performance as convincing and physically committed. At the same time, several reviewers described Rami Malek’s Kelley as unconvincing and called the film’s tonal shifts—from comic irony to harrowing archival footage—uneven.

Some critics argued Vanderbilt’s final coda removes ambiguity and steers the movie toward an explicit contemporary warning. A key line in that closing radio scene—Kelley’s assertion that “they are not unique people”—has been highlighted by reviewers as the film’s thematic hammer.

Comparisons to Stanley Kramer’s 1961 Judgment at Nuremberg are frequent: that earlier film’s restraint and moral complexity remain a touchstone for critics who find Vanderbilt’s approach more didactic. As one critic put it, the film sometimes trades subtlety for a blunt lesson on the presence of evil.

Box office, audience and social buzz

Commercially Nuremberg posted modest returns domestically, earning about $14.5 million against a reported $11.8 million budget — enough to recoup production costs but not to make it a breakout hit.

Online reaction has been lively. Some viewers applaud Crowe’s performance and the film’s effort to dramatize an important historical moment; others object to what they see as modern political messaging layered onto 1946 testimony. Critics and commentators have also debated whether graphic archival footage and the film’s closing monologue are necessary or heavy-handed.

Why it matters now

Nuremberg landed amid renewed public debate about historical memory and political rhetoric. Filmed after major global events in 2023–24 and released in 2025, the movie was read by many as an explicit cautionary tale for contemporary audiences. That makes Nuremberg as much a piece of cultural argument as a period drama.

What to expect next

There’s no major awards sweep publicly confirmed. Expect continued discussion in film circles about historical representation, the ethics of dramatizing Nazi defendants, and whether modern parallels strengthen or weaken a film’s historical value. For viewers, the film offers a powerful central performance and a contentious closing statement that will keep it on critics’ and classrooms’ radars.