Hermann Göring, the highest-ranking Nazi tried for war crimes after World War II, is not the protagonist of Nuremberg . The story is focused more on Göring’s psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), and the head of the Allies’ prosecution team, Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon). Yet Göring dominates the movie thanks to Russell Crowe’s performance, somehow both indulgently big and dexterously subtle. He is the poisonous lure of machismo, incarnated as a boisterous psychic seducer of other men — a guy who can make anybody feel special and understood, even the psychiatrist hired to crack open his brain.

It’s the latest brilliant Crowe performance in an era that’s seen him abandon any interest in regaining the exalted position of movie star in favor of supporting roles and villain parts

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