Some outlets, like Variety and Rolling Stone , found the first half "stiff" or "dull," and criticized the use of English with "cod-Czech" accents rather than original language with subtitles.
Filmed on location in Prague, the movie is noted for its period-accurate costumes and environments. Director Sean Ellis utilized a "shaky-cam" aesthetic and a muted, sepia-toned palette to evoke a sense of gritty realism and constant dread.
Overall, Anthropoid is regarded as a hard-hitting, informative historical lesson that honors the sacrifice of those who stood against the Nazi regime.
The film follows two exiled Czechoslovak soldiers, (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their Nazi-occupied homeland in December 1941. With minimal intelligence and the help of a dwindling local resistance, they must plan and execute the assassination of Heydrich in the heart of Prague. The story is divided into three distinct phases: