Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Billy Wonka (A) on October 23, 2016 at 21:23:32

The prolog is very dry and factual building a case that this film is something a bit more than a "historical novelty". Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan (zzzz) parachute outside of Prague with a mission. They came from London with orders to kill Heydrich. They run the usual gamut of escaping from detection, finding their contacts, and having political dialogue over whether killing Heydrich is the smart thing to do. After they insist on doing what London planned they set about researching the best way to catch Heydrich off guard in his daily routine. They are forced into a snap decision receiving word that Heydrich was being transferred to Paris. They set up the ambush and not much goes right. They went into hiding immediately but became too hot of a potato for anyone to be involved with them. Ending up in a church basement, they held off the Nazi troops for six brutal hours before succumbing to cyanide capsules. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of such capsules being chomped on as the Nazi's closed in rapidly thanks to a traitor to the group.

Murphy played an impetuous man always keyed up and unable to relax. Dornon was a lower keyed fellow who took the time to fall in "wartime love". There is absolutely no faulting this film for its art direction and cinematography. For all its good points it is compelling from the standpoint of historical interest more so than script or performances.

I wasn't expecting much after seeing the trailers but, as a whole, it is worth the time.