Valkryie is the code word for the failed mission to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the S.S. by senior members of the German Army. The leader of the movement was a Colonel Stauffenberg played in this movie by Tom Cruise. Other rebellious generals are the character actors Kenneth Branaugh, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson. Tom Hollander plays the short part of the ambiguous ‘maybe he knows’ Nazi. The director is Bryan Singer of X-Men and The Usual Suspects fame.
I like Tom Cruise movies and I like Bryan Singer movies and the chance for them to work together you would think are a match made in heaven on paper. The problem for about half of this movie is that the story does not fit the mold of that gung ho epic Cruise/Singer style. This movie is about a very intricate, secretive plot to kill Hitler. It should not be getting the blockbuster treatment. It doesn’t fit. I talk in particular of those very ‘Lord of the Rings’ shots where Singer takes his camera and shoots a moving car from the vantage of a helicopter. Now this works in the second half of the film as the attempt goes underway and there is substantial action in the picture. But in the first half they are completely uncalled for. The camera shots should be tight on Cruise creating a claustrophobic conspiratorial atmosphere. After the bomb goes off and coup becomes underway then the choices Singer has made are all very good. There is a particularly good shot where military men are running amidst a large plaza full of flags of Nazi Swastikas. Cruise then is allowed to be ‘Tom Cruise’ finally and the movie picks up speed. Still it is not perfect. The best movie to compare this one to is ‘Apollo 13.’ They are both movies based on real life whose success largely depends on the maker’s ability to create suspense out of a situation the audience already knows the outcome of. The question must be transformed from ‘Will it be successful?’ to ‘How is it going to be a success/failure?’ Apollo 13 was certainly a masterpiece of that genre. Valkyrie is simply good. It lacks the amount of smart dialogue and complex problem solving that took place in the former. It is like Apollo 13 but not enough like it. I can venture to say that even if you have no interest in NASA you will likely get a kick out of Apollo 13. On the other hand, if you are a history buff you will like Valkyrie but if you think history is bunk then I’d give you a 50-50 chance of liking it. I like history so I liked it.
I was particularly impressed by the nervous performance of Bill Nighy. Tom Cruise does an upstanding job, as always, particularly with his amputations. Hitler is a letdown; we never get to see that famous temper I witnessed in ‘Downfall.’ Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hollander, and Terrence Stamp have roles that speak to the skills of the casting director. What I mean by that is that we’ve got some very good character actors filling roles that are below their pay grade. It’s like I was watching a Woody Allen film, (who is perhaps the best casting director ever.)
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