Movie Review: Valkyrie

VALKYRIE
Main Players: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, et al.
Calling the shots: Bryan Singer
Running time: 120mins
What's it about? Not everyone in Germany agreed with Hitler during the Second World War. In fact, there were more than 20 known attempts on his life from within. This is the story about the last attempt. We know what happens, but at least they tried.

What did I think? More than anything else, this is a very interesting movie in terms of its story line. History buffs will lap it up. Unfortunately for the movie, it never out does its subject matter making this movie more intriguing rather than great…or even (barely) good.

I can’t emphasis the story enough. It really is fascinating. We all knew the world hated Hitler, but to know it came so close to ending for him from within is truly amazing. At least not all of Germany agreed with his ways and that’s probably a stereotype and hence why they are so apologetic about the past. It’s a shame then, that this movie didn’t have the feel, the “umph” that films like this should have.

It all comes down to two things: the casting and the directing.

The cast, asides from Tom Cruise, is a powerhouse British cast if ever I saw one. Cruise is in a controlled acting mode here but you can’t help but feel as though he wants to break out, Tom Cruise-Style! He probably couldn’t have a better supporting cast around him, with everyone playing their roles well. But why the British cast playing Germans? They’ve completely ditched the concept of accents, and rather than speaking in a German accent, or even in a neutral one, they speak in a British one. That kind of threw me off. They also start with Cruise speaking in German but quickly ditch it for American English.

As much as I love Bryan Singers work, this isn’t his type of movie. He creates a stylish, well presented Hollywood blockbuster but nothing more. You can’t help but feel that in better hands, we’d be talking about Oscars for this thing. Say…if Spielberg directed it (not that he’d ever direct a movie about the Nazis).

As the movie rolls on, you can forgive the accents and enjoy the tense thriller-aspect of the movie. We all know the outcome, but it doesn’t make it any less compelling. It just won’t leave you as satisfied as it should.

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