Russell Crowe's 148-Minute War Movie Is A Sleeper Streaming Hit

2 hours ago 8

Published Jul 26, 2026, 11:52 AM EDT

Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay.

A recent Russell Crowe gem has become a stealth streaming success.

Crowe remains best known for some of his earlier work, including, most notably, Gladiator (2000). In addition to this Ridley Scott classic, the New Zealand-born actor has appeared in acclaimed movies like L.A. Confidential (1997) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). Crowe has stayed busy in recent years, playing a sinister villain in Unhinged (2020) before then facing off against demons in movies like The Pope's Exorcist (2023) and The Exorcism (2024). In addition to a return to the action thriller genre with Land of Bad (2024), Crowe also recently starred in a well-received World War II thriller.

After hitting theaters last year, Nuremberg is now reconnecting with audiences on streaming. As of writing, the film ranks as the ninth most popular movie on Rakuten, a smaller video on demand platform.

Nuremberg's streaming success follows a successful run in theaters last year. Directed by James Vanderbilt, the World War II movie grossed just over $70 million worldwide on a budget reported to be in the $10 million range.

Nuremberg chronicles the titular trials of Nazi leaders that took place after World War II, following psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) as he forms a disturbing bond with Hermann Göring (Crowe). Michael Shannon, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Richard E. Grant, and Colin Hanks also star.

In addition to finding success at the box office, Nuremberg also fared generally well with critics. The film sports a 72% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience-driven Popcornmeter flying high at a stunning 95%. Crowe's performance was a common point of praise in reviews, in addition to its interesting, if somewhat traditional, exploration of the Nuremberg trials.

ScreenRant's own Nuremberg review by Gregory Nussen goes against the grain at a poor score of only three out of 10. For Nussen, Crowe's performance can't save a film that they say suffers from an uneven tone and a central flaw of miscalculating its humanization of Nazi war criminals. Nussen writes:

It's clear Vanderbilt sees Nazism as a pervasive disease, but the treatment of that disease as a charming curio only periodically works to cement his intentions to make all this feel prescient. The opening title card of the film says the movie is based on testimonies of those who lived and those who didn't, but if we're meant to feel sympathy with anyone, why choose the Nazi high command?

Following Nuremberg, Crowe has appeared in Beast (2026) and The Get Out (2026), neither of which matched the World War II film's success. With a release date set for September 18, The Weight, which also stars Ethan Hawke, marks Crowe's next major movie. He's also set to appear in Chad Stahelski's upcoming Highlander remake starring Henry Cavill, but that film doesn't yet have a release date.

It remains to be seen whether Nuremberg's streaming success will continue over the coming days and weeks, but Crowe evidently still has power as a movie star. Even though not all of Crowe's recent movies have been hits, the World War II film proves the right combination of actor and material can still be powerful for audiences.