Operation Finale

Going in: I've only seen the trailer. What appealed to me was Oscar Isaac and I like historical dramas. I think it will be tense in some places, but pretty well done.

Popcorn: 7/10. I would see this movie once more, probably not more than that. I'd definitely rent it at least once. I liked the movie and the impulse is to buy it. But it's a pretty heavy movie in some places and would want to feel some distance. I've noticed that heavier stories with the right amount of levity make the heaviness much more bearable. This movie was heavier with not quite enough levity.

Art: 9/10. This was a well-made movie. Not a lot of fat and everyone put in their part to tell the story. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really want to dig into the real history.

Acting: 3/3. This is an awesome cast, Oscar Isaac as the leading man, Ben Kingsley supporting. That was enough to get me interested. I saw a lot of "finer" acting in Kingsley. Isaac is a great actor, but it's more about his body than the close up shots. That said, it's minutia in this movie. The acting was really good.

Music: 2/2. With music, I normally look for a theme that sticks in the head and I like to see a score that grabs my attention. I noticed the score right off the bat, but it didn't stick in my head. The fairer score here is a 1.5 but I resolved not to give those.

Filming: 2/2. This movie had some really interesting shot choices, especially in the beginning. Some of the older way of shooting things (like not cutting between dialog) made their presence felt in a good way. I really enjoyed it.

Art Dept: 2/2. This was a period piece and well done. Costuming and prop design felt right. I'm sure there was some finer points that were missed, but it didn't feel out of place.

Editing: 2/2. Full marks for the editing because of two reasons. The first is the cuts between dialog were awesomely and noticeably absent. It's a much more dramatic feel. Second, and more importantly, the sound editing was off the charts good. Sound (and its cousin music) doesn't get used nearly enough but the director and editors made a good story with some good choices. The only bad part was a constant desire to check where in the story I was but that might be unavoidable given the nature of the genre.

Story: 3/4. The story is really good and I initially gave it a 4. The reason has nothing to do with the story but I've rounded up in every other category. The theme is well presented with great characters with background stories to tell. Not every subplot lined up with the main one but the character choices were spot on. There's on in particular where Eichmann tells a funny joke and one of the captors laughs. By this time, you know they hate him and the character is immediately upset with himself for humanizing his prisoner. No dialog, but well constructed and well acted. What I particularly like is the question "What would you do?". In our culture today, we celebrate the vigilante. It's in our comic book stories and in our movies (I can think of two coming up in the next 2 weeks). This holds that question and doesn't really answer it. It's thought provoking on that front.

Directing: 2/3. Again, just rounding down this time. Everything was well executed and great - except maybe not having enough levity but I don't fault anyone for that. It's their choice.

Production: 2/2. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Nothing was grossly out of place. It still had the big screen feel (not as much as BlacKkKlansman, but close).