Valkyrie (2008)

After my week-long absence from the "blogsphere", as it were, let's see how much I can even remember about the next few movies. Hmm. After reading a helpful review, I decided I actually wanted to see that Tom Cruise Nazi movie, aka Valkyrie. Bryan Singer (who I still haven't forgiven for ditching X3 and bringing half the X-Men crew to stupid Superman Returns) reminded me he is a pretty good director by crafting this very taut and engaging historical thriller. Based on real events, the plot centers on Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), a German officer who by 1944 had come to the realization that Hitler's regime was not a Germany of which he could be proud. He joins the ranks of a small but dedicated number of military officers and politicians who have attempted several assassinations on the Führer. Included in the group are the nervous General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), the daring General Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), ballsy explosives specialist Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim, and Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), though he is relocated to the front before the main plan is underway (there is a total of like three women with any lines in this entire movie so be ready to watch a bunch of old dudes talk authoritatively for two hours).

Inspired by his children's record of "Ride of the Valkyries", von Stauffenberg hatches a plan to use Hitler's emergency plan "Operation Valkyrie" against him. This measure enabled immediate military takeover of Berlin in the event of Hitler's death. With von Stauffenberg's recent appointment as head of the reserve forces and resulting access to the Wolfsschanze headquarters, the rebel group plans to bomb Hitler and his closest military leaders and strategists. They then would initiate Valkyrie and order the arrest of a number of Nazi party members, alleging their involvement in a plot against Hitler. A new government consisting of the rebel leaders would be quietly organized and a peace treaty with the Allies quickly instigated. Though well-thought out on paper, the plan was incredibly dangerous and hinged on numerous uncertainties. Would party loyalist but power-hungry General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson) change sides and help out the good guys? Would on-the-fence General Erich Fellgiebel (a surprisingly serious Eddie Izzard) shut down the phone lines at the Wolfsschanze after the assassination? Would the bomb even go off properly? The answers to these questions and more, when/if you see the movie!

I've only seen Tom Cruise in one (or maybe 1.5) movie(s) before, so I didn't really have expectations for him as an actor. He's not very good looking, and I guess I don't really approve of (or care that much about) his personal and religious life. But that being said, he was pretty good in this. The job could have been done just as well (or better) by many other actors, but his performance wasn't detrimental to the film. Also he was really rocking that wavy 40's hairstyle, so kudos to his stylist. Finally, remember that it is impossible to not look completely badass in an eyepatch, so his sort-of-annoying character was helped out greatly by that accessory. The ensemble cast was splendid, with a lot of faces I didn't expect to see (especially Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard), and many of them British. The whole speaking-in-regular-accents-thing was fine- if you are not going to make a Nazi movie in the German language, it's not really necessary to give all of the English-speaking actors crappy German accents. However, it was a little jarring sometimes, like when there was a bunch of British and American men heiling Hitler, and I felt the initial transition from German to English was a bit rushed.

Speaking of rushed, one thing that really bothered me was the seeming speediness with which von Stauffenberg was accepted into and promoted within both the rebel group and Nazi military. He starts off as some dude in North Africa who realizes the war is killing Germany instead of empowering it, gets accepted into some super secret and (presumably) super cautious anti-Hitler, scheme-happy elite killing squad, and then almost instantly is both the leading figure in an assassination plot and being invited to strategize with Adolf Hitler. For a film in which pacing is everything, it really threw off a lot of Valkyrie's earlier action. That being said, this is an otherwise very well organized and tightly-wound thriller, integral to the enjoyment of it since viewers will almost definitely know the ending. I'm also glad it didn't over-monsterize Hitler himself, as I feel people often forget he was just an extremely powerful human and not some Satanly Embodiment of Pure Evil. In the end, this movie had excitement, dismemberment, snappy uniforms, explosions, and, best of all, History! I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, so I'm glad I gave these guys a chance.

4/5

*Possibly Rhetorical Question*: Does it say something bad about me that of the two Nazi-centered films I've seen that end in a gratuitous amount of deaths, I found the one with Hitler supporters dying in droves much more depressing? I mean... it really was just such a downer, no matter whose side you were on. Right? Maybe the difference is that it was mostly suicides.