Set in May 1942, Czech and Slovak secret agents Jan Kubis (Jamie Dornan) and Jozef Gabcik (Cillian Murphy) are sent to lead a team whose mission is to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich (Operation Anthropoid, of the title), one of Hitler's closest leaders in the 3rd Reich, known as the Butcher of Prague and said to be responsible for the Final Solution.

Linking up other service men parachuted into Prague and a decimated demoralised and conflicted Czech resistance they encounter Uncle Jan (Toby Jones) who displays all the nerves and mannerisms of a man living day to day on his wits and connections, but ultimately willing to do what he believes is the right thing, whatever the personal cost.

This is a thoughtful reflection on the causes and effects of such an attempted regime change. Targeting a high profile Nazi will have terrible consequences and risks of reprisals and executions – this is not merely some gun-ho shoot 'em up action thriller; the characters are complex, sympathetic, venal and traitorous in some cases, but always wholly human, despite being trapped in a tragedy bigger than themselves.

Nerves are shredded, fear paralyses and a terrible outcome can surely only await the protagonists, but amidst such tensions we see revealed love, nobility, true bravery, comradeship and tenderness which shine out of the darkness.

Do Cillian Murphy or Toby Jones actually know how good they are? I don't think so; and if you thought Jamie Dornan's just went in for serial killers or sex addicts then his portrayal of Jan Kubis, as a man wholly ill at ease with his immense and terrible mission he bears, is beautifully observed and realised.

There is a wonderful sequence, the night before the assassination attempt, when Kubis breaks down in his room, a panic attack that threatens the very mission; it is a chink of insight where the stoic façade of the military man crumbles to show his human frailties.

Sean Ellis (director and co-writer) handles the direction of the story deftly and while there is massive arc of the story to Anthropoid's final section, following the assassination attempt, his acceleration and loading of tension brilliantly carries you along, whether you want it or not!

Houses are stormed, families interrogated; be warned there is torture, suicide, betrayal and sickening brutality, none of it is gratuitous but gruelling nevertheless. And finally, there is the last, valiant stand of the 7 secret agents against 750 troops.

In the Czech and Slovak Republics this is an embedded tale of National Heroes in whom those citizens rightly take great pride and it much deserves this superb retelling.