Timothy S. Johnston Reviews NUREMBERG |

Timothy S. Johnston Reviews Nuremberg

This is an important film that people should watch, especially those unfamiliar with the events of WW2.

It truly was a world war. There were over seventy countries involved, and during the course of the war, seventy-four million people died. As noted in the film, Nuremberg, there were more deaths in WW2 than in any previous conflict in human history. That being said, many historians look at WW2 as simply an extension, or continuation, of WW1, and if I were to do that here, the number of dead would be even higher.

At war’s conclusion, the true scale of death caused by Nazi Germany became clear. The Nuremberg Laws, enacted in 1935, declared that only people of German blood could be full citizens, and Jews, Roma, and Black people were stripped of their rights to vote, hold office, and to eventually own property and businesses. They lost everything in the ensuing years as they were held in urban ghettos, sent to concentration camps, killed by forced labour, or exterminated in death camps like Auschwitz, forged by Hitler’s Final Solution.

The war raged from 1939 until 1945. People outside of Germany and Eastern Europe did not know the full scale of what was transpiring. The industrial scale of murder. As camps were liberated, however, the true terror came to light. The Allied nations had to decide what to do with the captured Nazi officers — kill them outright? Or put them on trial? No trial of the sort had ever occurred, and the stakes were enormous. If the prosecution failed, then it might minimize the true horrors of what had occurred during The Holocaust. I can’t imagine the enormity of the pressures on those in charge of the prosecution.

It’s here where the film, Nuremberg, begins. It stars Rami Malek as a psychiatrist called in to determine the mental fitness of the defendants, all Nazi officers on trial for their lives. He stars opposite Russell Crowe, who portrays Hermann Göring, the Nazi party’s second in command. The first half of the movie involves their meeting and initial conversations. It also details the events leading up to the trial: who would prosecute, who would judge, where it would take place, and so forth. The location, Nuremberg, was chosen as a symbol of those race laws, enacted in 1935. Michael Shannon portrays Justice Jackson, the chief prosecutor in the case against Nazi German officers, who formulated, led, and caused the cold blooded murders of so many innocent people.

This part of the movie was good.

Once the trial starts, however, the movie became great.

I want to single out Russell Crowe in particular. Sometimes, when a recognizable face takes on such a role, they simply become an actor playing a character. However, in this, Crowe becomes invisible. He became Herman Göring, and the performance was remarkable. He deserves an Oscar nomination, at the very least, for this role.

Crowe was invisible in this film

Malek was fine. Michael Shannon was great. The story was tense, and the enormity of the situation and the pressures on those involved make this an extraordinary story. The stakes were gargantuan.

I also want to point out one of the film’s flaws: Nuremberg featured an evil and malevolent villain, but there was no one effective enough to oppose him. Malek’s character was driven by other motivations, though he offered a very important message by the film’s conclusion, and the prosecutors attempting to secure a guilty verdict were depicted as not being up to countering Göring’s wily intellectual abilities. A strong moral hero does appear near the end — someone for whom we can cheer, and someone with whom we can sympathize — and this was much needed, though a bit late in the narrative. I won’t say more, other than this person was at first driven solely by revenge, but by the movie’s end, his/her actions were compassionate and showed incredible moral character. I treasured this, and it helped make the movie great. But the flaw in the film is that no one seemed remotely capable of standing up to Hermann Göring. Despite this minor quibble, however, the movie is a very well made, acted, and a deeply immersive experience.

Nuremberg will likely secure some nominations and also some wins at the Academy Awards. Crowe was unbelievable in this … his performance was just stellar … a masterclass in acting.

Please see this film, if only because of the importance from a historical standpoint. Encourage the younger generation to also see it. The events occurred eighty-five years ago … within my parents’ lives. The world was burning, human beings were responsible, and human beings helped stop it and hold the guilty accountable.

TSJ’s Rating of Nuremberg: 8/10

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 22 December 2025

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

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The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007