After 50 Shades of Grey, the last role you’d expect to see Jamie Dornan play is a Czechoslovakian soldier plotting to take down Nazis. Following Peaky Blinders, it makes maybe too much sense to see Cillian Murphy join him in Anthropoid. With the news that Murphy is currently shooting Dunkirk, reuniting him with Christopher Nolan which makes two WW2 films to feature Murphy in recent years, I’m a little reticent to say that he may be really enjoying reliving the 20th century in this part of his career or he is falling into a type cast. Regardless, his striking presence (eyes) and natural talent, I feel, hasn’t received the attention and recognition it deserves, but after the release of Anthropoid and Dunkirk I predict his star will finally rise. Likewise, say what you will about 50 Shades of Grey, but watch Jamie Dornan with Gillian Anderson in The Fall and you will agree that his exceptional talent has also gone underestimated. That being said, you’d think that the thought of the two joining forces for Anthropoid would be a very exciting prospect, but from what the trailer offers, it looks like just another WW2 film.
Nazi occupied Prague, 1942. Josef Gabcík (Murphy) heads Operation Anthropoid, the mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, leader of the Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. Jan Kubis (Dornan) is Gabcík’s right hand man, and working with them is Toby Jones, Harry Lloyd, Charlotte Le Bon and Anna Geislerová. The trailer, though it boasts gorgeous imagery, squeezes in almost every plot point of the story and doesn’t offer much in the way of what to expect of the tone of the film. Who doesn’t love a good uprising against Hitler movie? But this one looks like little more than a recounting of events. And I can never get used to films set in foreign countries, yet they have the characters speaking in english but with heavy accents.
I’m sure it is worth a watch, but I don’t expect anything great. Anthropoid is set to be released in August. You can watch the trailer below.
Cillian Murphy in Anthropoid
Jamie Dornan in Anthropoid
