Nazis are the ultimate bad guys. And in movies, you can instantly spot them as villains and you never feel bad when they get what’s coming to them—especially if it’s bloody. Although making a movie about Nazi conspiracy theories (this is a true work of fiction, by the way) is usually positioned for a good time, the Icelandic film Operation Napoleon is just not one of those times. It does have some very entertaining and exciting moments as an espionage thriller, the movie gets so bogged down with plot that it simply can’t handle the weight of its own story.
Written by Marteinn Þórisson and directed by Óskar Þór Axelsson (Black’s Game, I Remember You), Operation Napoleon is based on the novel of the same name by Arnaldur Indriðason. It follows the discovery of a crashed Nazi plane on the Vatnajökull Glacier in modern day Iceland. A small group of hikers find the old plane, while the CIA and Icelandic officials, led by William Carr (played by Iain Glen), want to cover up and retrieve artifacts from the failed World War II mission that resulted in the crash.
However, Elías (played by Atli Óskar Fjalarsson), one of the hikers, secretly text messaged photos and videos of the plane wreck to his sister Kristín (played by Vivian Ólafsdóttir), a lawyer who gets caught up in a bizarre international conspiracy. She is joined by her former lover Steve Rush (played by Jack Fox) to unearth the mystery behind “Operation Napoleon.”
While the story is intriguing and the photography looks great, as it highlights Iceland’s natural beauty, the film is pretty clunky and convoluted — even though the plot itself is pretty straightforward. It feels so episodic, as if I’m watching chapters unfold in a book instead of a movie. It’s a trapping that comes with a mediocre adaptation of a spy novel. If the movie was tighter, it would feel more engaging, but rather Operation Napoleon hits the ground running setting up the conspiracy and the players involved, but then lands with a thud as it quickly becomes an “and this happens, and then this happens” story.
One of the big drawbacks is that the movie doesn’t reveal its main plot device as soon as it should. While this stylistic choice might work in movies like Pulp Fiction, Ronin, or North By Northwest, the story and characters aren’t strong enough to carry the plot or suspense. Ultimately, “Operation Napoleon” is a Macguffin, which is fine, but there’s just not enough there there to keep an audience engaged — especially since its true reveal comes really, really late in the movie.
Overall, Operation Napoleon has some really good moments with sharp entertainment value, but the film’s sensibilities don’t match with it. Plus, you add in a lackluster and sluggish pace and you have a recipe for a dud. It just feels too cold and icy to really enjoy.
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