"Valkyrie" Review

Review for: Valkyrie

By: Jonathan Tay

(Originally posted January 13, 2009)

At last, the much delayed and much anticipated movie, Valkyrie, has arrived in theaters. Directed by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise, Valkyrie chronicles an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler during World War II by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

At the beginning of the movie, Stauffenberg loses his right arm, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye during an attack on Tunisia. Realizing that Hitler's reign will destroy Germany, Stauffenberg enters a group of conspirators - comprised of some of the most prominent and influential men in Germany - to kill Hitler.

The majority of the actors in the film are British, and speak English throughout the movie. It's not German-accented English (such as in Hogan's Heroes), it's just plain, old English. Tom Cruise himself doesn't even try to sound British, and comes off as thoroughly American. Not even Hitler speaks in German. Add that to the fact that all the notes and signs in the movie are written in German, and you get the sense that the movie lacks cohesiveness. It comes off as terribly awkward.

Speaking of cohesiveness, what happens in the movie and what actually happened in real life are slightly different. Certain aspects of history were changed for cinematic effect. The base idea is still there - Stauffenberg and his associates try to kill Hitler using a timed-suitcase bomb. The attempt fails epically. Singer attempts to spice up the planning and execution phases of the assassination attempt using dramatic music and extreme close-ups of characters frowning. This gives the audience a false impression of psychological intensity that isn't really there, and the whole movie ends up rather dull until the ending.

The ending is just what anyone expects. Everyone who's taken a history lesson on World War II knows how Valkyrie ends. I mentioned it earlier - the attempt fails. Sorry for spoiling it for you, but you knew that, right? Foreknowledge of what happens is the film's critical flaw. You may want to root for the protagonists, but you know it's useless - the end of the movie is set in stone. There are no entertaining twists or surprises.

The film has some merits, though. The set, the score, the uniforms and the guns come off as wonderfully crisp. Crisper than the script, in fact.

Singer's attempts at increasing the intensity of the film and Cruise's mediocre acting fall flat. It makes the entire film pointless. You're better off reading what happened on Wikipedia. You'll save money and get far more out of it.

Score: 4/10