Make no mistake about it, Valkyrie is not a movie about WWII. It’s not really about war in general but about a small group of men and women who stood against the greatest evil that this world has ever seen. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi War Machine were responsible for the brutal murders of over six million Jews. Valkyrie is the story of the select few who had the courage to stare down the most incredible evil and dared to stop it. With Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, who directed and wrote The Usual Suspect, X-Men 2 and Superman Returns, Valkyrie had a tremendous upside as a film. However, it fails and disappoints in numerous ways. Not only did the it take way to long to get into the meat of the story, but the performance were not what I expected. A film that stares Tom Cruise will no doubt make a splash at the box-office, but sadly it will not live up to the expectations.
Colonel Clause von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is not only unhappy with what he’s seen on the front lines of the third Reich’s military campaign, but is injured trying to defend his country. As he returns to Germany, he’s recruited by a select few of clandestine patriots to conceive and carry out a plan to assassinate the most feared man in the history of the world, Adolf Hitler. As it turns out, the the best way to do so, is take one of Hitler preconceived military backup plans and spin it against him. As this is based on a true story and we know from our 7th grade history lessons that Adolf Hitler was not assassinated, I think it’s safe to tell you that the plan did not work.
Going into the film, I knew that Tom Cruise’s character, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, wasn’t going to have a German accent. And I was fine with that because I know that it may have taken away from the quality of the film, much similar to the 1961 film Judgment at Nuremberg. Turns out, it didn’t really matter. Tom Cruise was just one of a plethora of cast members to disappoint. So I don’t make the mistake of just singling out the lead man, let’s rundown the much anticipated actors in this film who equally disappoint. Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Oscar nominee Keneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Thomas Kretschmann and the beautiful Carice von Houten. With the exception of a handful of scenes towards the tail end of the film, the cast as a whole, disappoints just the same as the film in its entirety. A film that banks on being a suspense thriller showed little to back up such claims until the last thirty minutes or so of the film. Much of the first hour and a half of the film was like drinking flat soda.
After reading the script about two or three months ago, I was floored by the flow and suspense of just reading Valkyrie. So you can imagine my excitement. The original screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie was, in my opinion, more powerful than the one portrayed. As the film opens with the very unnecessary German voice over by Col. Stauffenberg, holding back laughter was my top priority. It just caught me by surprise. But as it slowly transitioned to English which was probably the filmmakers idea of establishing the main character (who did not speak a word of German after the fact, nor did her have the slightest hint of an accent) as German. Like I said, unnecessary.
Bryan Singer had a phenomenal story of courage and love for one’s country laid out in front of him. This is what he presents us with? A marginally suspenseful half hour ending. At the end, when the credits rolled, I felt deflated. This was one of my most anticipated films of the year and finishes as one of the most unfulfilled and unsatisfying. I know that Bryan Singer is a much better filmmaker than what he handed us, perhaps it was the acting or maybe it as just one of those things. Great writer, great director, great cast. Not so great product. It’s happened before…just ask the cast and crew from the remake of All the King’s Men.
A tremendous disappointment!
IMDB: n/a
Rottentomatoes: 50 %
MovieWiseGuys: 6/10