This Is Not A World Warr II movie ....

Valkyrie
2008, dir. Bryan Singer.
stars Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Thomas Kretchmann, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard
2 hours

Saw this on Christmas Day at Silvercity, with Paddy, my aunt Susan, my cousins Steve and Lauren, and Lauren's friend Malcolm, all the way from Scotland.


Tom Cruise stars in Valkyrie, one of a few movies this winter that deal with Nazi Germany and World War II. In this case, Valkyrie is the story of a group of German officers and businessmen who believe that Hitler has done only harm to Germany (specifically, militarily), and that he must be replaced. And of course to replace him, he must be assassinated. The film covers the 15th and last such attempt, with Cruise leading the team to kill Hitler and use the SS’ own mechanisms against itself to facilitate a coup d’etat.

The disadvantage this film has is that it’s a well-known fact that Hitler was not assassinated, but committed suicide in his bunker near the end of the war. So of course, the audience knows this plan will fail. Thus the film, in order to generate any suspense, must show the whys and hows of that failure, and for good measure, should show just how close it was. To give credit the film, I, only half-seriously, thought the plan was going to work. By that I mean that film is successfully suspenseful, in that the visceral part of my brain took over from the logical.

Cruise is surrounded in the film but a host of talented British actors, including Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, and Kenneth Branagh but despite what some have said, I thought Cruise held together the ensemble well. Don’t get me wrong here, he is definitely more Tom Cruise than Claus Von Staffenberg (the officer he portrays), but he is convincing in his portrayal.

Valkyrie may not be the deepest film you see this year, but it is an entertaining movie, and hopefully might lead Tom Cruise to some favoured status.

3 stars out of 5.