Russell Crowe is back in awards contention more than two decades after his last Oscar nod, with critics praising his performance as Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring in the new World War II drama Nuremberg.
Directed by James Vanderbilt, the film follows US Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley, played by Rami Malek, as he engages in a psychological showdown with Göring ahead of the Nuremberg trials. While the movie has received mixed reviews — holding a 73 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes — Crowe’s portrayal has been widely lauded.
TheWrap’s Matthew Creith described Crowe’s performance as “towering”, while Roger Ebert’s Zachary Lee called it “subtly frightening”. USA Today’s Brian Truitt said Crowe was “even more superb — and ready to crash awards season”. The Associated Press’s Lindsey Bahr labelled it “some of his best work in years”.
Crowe, 61, last earned major awards buzz in the early 2000s, winning the Best Actor Oscar for Gladiator in 2001 and receiving nominations for The Insider and A Beautiful Mind. In recent years, he has shifted to smaller projects.
