Hitler biographer Sir Ian Kershaw wrote in "The Guardian" that the film had enormous emotive power, calling it a triumph and "a marvellous historical drama". Kershaw also said that he found it hard to imagine anyone would find Hitler to be a sympathetic figure in his final days. Wim Wenders, in a review for the German newspaper "Die Zeit", said the film was absent of a strong point of view for Hitler which made him harmless, and compared "Downfall" to "", stating that in "Resident Evil" the viewer would know which character was evil.