I feel that this film doesn't do justice to the story of Anthropoid. If you're going to tackle something like this with a reasonable budget, you surely have a responsibility to do it well. My fear is that the generation of people being introduced to the story via this film (which they will do as its stars '50 Shades' Dornan, and Nolan- regular Cillian Murphy) won't understand any of the true depth or complexities of what happened. Great that they get to know about it at all, but it'll often be a case of "hmm, what next, Stranger Things?" rather than looking further or realising how much more there was to it.
It completely fails to set the context of what was going on in Prague at the time, the atmosphere of oppression with Heydrich's initiatives and the regular executions. Unforgivably, it fails to give any detail or context whatsoever to Heydrich, who this person was, why the Czechs feared him, or how he was instrumental in vast atrocities including the 'final solution'. Having had more context would have framed the story better in terms of how terrifying and important this mission really was. The actors weren't well directed at all - carrying the implication of foreboding via constant frowns and moodiness, whereas in reality the two (Gabcik especially) were more light-hearted and energetic. The director again fakes (unnecessary) tension by making Kubis trembling and panic-stricken - he didn't and wasn't. It doesn't mention how they landed far away from the intended landing point - and how they had to back track all the way to Pilsen to meet their contacts before getting into Prague (a huge inconvenience being that they landed quite near Prague). The HUGE story of what happened to Lidice and other reprisals is glossed over with a few lines of dialogue. Hitler's reaction to Heydrich's assassination, the strict curfew, mass arrests, executions, hundreds of thousands of house searches - so many moments of pure terror and fear that are just missed entirely. Cinematically the story is rich with such moments for raw emotional impact, so its a travesty that the first half of the film is pretty dull, choosing to focus instead on the romance element - in cheesy crowd-pandering fashion.
It also looks like a TV movie at best. The ending is appalling - rather than let the situation speak for itself, the director chooses to ram it down your throat with a muted soundtrack, cheesy piano score, and suggesting that Gabcik was fantasising about his dead girlfriend (she didn't die before Gabcik at all).
With HHhH (The Man With The Iron Heart) also completely messing this story up, its a shame that there are probably no opportunities left now without it seeming like overkill. The original Czech film Atentat is still the best and most atmospheric version.
It completely fails to set the context of what was going on in Prague at the time, the atmosphere of oppression with Heydrich's initiatives and the regular executions. Unforgivably, it fails to give any detail or context whatsoever to Heydrich, who this person was, why the Czechs feared him, or how he was instrumental in vast atrocities including the 'final solution'. Having had more context would have framed the story better in terms of how terrifying and important this mission really was. The actors weren't well directed at all - carrying the implication of foreboding via constant frowns and moodiness, whereas in reality the two (Gabcik especially) were more light-hearted and energetic. The director again fakes (unnecessary) tension by making Kubis trembling and panic-stricken - he didn't and wasn't. It doesn't mention how they landed far away from the intended landing point - and how they had to back track all the way to Pilsen to meet their contacts before getting into Prague (a huge inconvenience being that they landed quite near Prague). The HUGE story of what happened to Lidice and other reprisals is glossed over with a few lines of dialogue. Hitler's reaction to Heydrich's assassination, the strict curfew, mass arrests, executions, hundreds of thousands of house searches - so many moments of pure terror and fear that are just missed entirely. Cinematically the story is rich with such moments for raw emotional impact, so its a travesty that the first half of the film is pretty dull, choosing to focus instead on the romance element - in cheesy crowd-pandering fashion.
It also looks like a TV movie at best. The ending is appalling - rather than let the situation speak for itself, the director chooses to ram it down your throat with a muted soundtrack, cheesy piano score, and suggesting that Gabcik was fantasising about his dead girlfriend (she didn't die before Gabcik at all).
With HHhH (The Man With The Iron Heart) also completely messing this story up, its a shame that there are probably no opportunities left now without it seeming like overkill. The original Czech film Atentat is still the best and most atmospheric version.