The 'July 20 Plot' on Hitler's life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of World War Two. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler once he is dead.
But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation’s government… He must kill Hitler himself.
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
The good news first: this is as classy looking a suspense thriller as you’d expect from the maker of The Usual Suspects. I found little to gripe about in terms of its pacing, imagery (lots of Nazi black, white and red, naturally) or indeed its performances.
But there are a couple of key factors which stopped me loving Valkyrie. Firstly, I just couldn’t accept all-American hero Tom Cruise, one-time Full Monty stripper Tom Wilkinson, transvestite comic Eddie Izzard and Love Actually’s Bill Nighy as dissenting German soldiers. As commendable as their acting is (especially the determined Cruise and jittery Wilkinson), these guys are just too familiar to bark “heil Hitler!” and not look just a little silly. Secondly, the fact that we know this rebel band failed in their attempt to assassinate their genocidal Fuhrer robs this of a certain amount of tension. There are still surprises along the way – you don’t know how the plan will fail, only that it will - but for the most part, the edge of my seat remained unbothered.
The result of all this is that instead of the weighty, tense thriller this could have been, the ‘all-star’ cast edges Valkyrie towards being a sort of Third Reich Ocean’s 11 and the pre-known ending takes the suspense down a notch. The film remains intriguing, visually impressive and perfectly watchable, but like its protagonists it misses its ultimate target.
By Ashley Bird, Flicks.co.nz
Perhaps it was because I already wiki'd a lot about this assasination attempt in anticipation of seeing the film, but I didnt really feel drawn in or that excited watching this film. It did have lots of action, but I feel that it was still all kept at one suspense level throughout. I found it was a little confusing trying to follow who everyone was (again perhaps because I was trying to relate it back to what I had read) and I also found that there was a lot events that obviously must have spanned some time but the film made it appear like it was happening within a day of each other. In the end the film was okay and probably as good as I expected it to be given that it had Tom Cruise in it. The film probably was let down because I had previously seen Der Untergang (The downfall) which I feel is the best film about Hitler I have ever seen. Any other true Hitler story probably will pale in comparison. This morning I did think that what might have been more interesting would have been to have scripted Valkyrie as what would have happened had the attempt been successful. You could have even had 2 endings still one with what did happen, and one with what might have happened. I am sure many viewers definately had that thought in their head as they watched, just as I did - what could have been if only they had had both explosives, had been in the bunker or that bag had been left on the other side of the table leg.
It's pretty jarring to have Tom Cruise and Eddie Izzard as German... I think this is a pretty poor decision. It draws you out of the film, and lends itself to humour. Despite this, the film itself I thought was quite gripping and interesting throughout. I'd still recommend.
Tom Cruise is perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role.
A film more concerned with 'how' than 'why' or 'who', Valkyrie would have benefited from more scrutiny and complexity. Still, once the bomb goes off, the thrills come in spades.
Singer has crafted a fine film. One just wishes for greater details -- and a different ending.
A perfectly acceptable motion picture. The only thing that keeps it from even greater accomplishments may be inherent in the story itself.
If Mr. Cruise doesn't work in Valkyrie, it's partly because he's too modern, too American and way too Tom Cruise to make sense in the role, but also because what passes for movie realism keeps changing, sometimes faster than even a star can change his brand.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 5th Feb 2009.
Release date: February 5th 2009.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
