It's cliché to say "I don't like Tom Cruise." When "Valkyrie" was being advertised, I heard that phrase so often it made me sick. I'm not his biggest fan. He's complete crap as an actor. But I do think he's generally a very excellent producer.
He knows how to read an audience, pander to them and usually how to pick projects we'll pay to sit through.
These are all attributes necessary for a great motion picture producer. These same assets are what make him a sub-par actor. We want characters that put us in the situation.
Cruise is the dancing monkey up there shaking his tail end to get our approval. His process is transparent. But, again, he knows how to pick movies.
Then I heard it was a true story of high ranking German officers and their failed attempt to assassinate Hitler. Even better. Then ... the cast list came out: Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson., Terence Stamp and, the icing, Eddie Izzard! Even if I hated Tom Cruise - WOW! How could there have been a more amazing bunch of folks put together? Obviously, I couldn't wait for "Valkyrie".
Well, the men depicted in this film didn't sit down. They didn't roll over. A handful of men tried to stop an unstoppable force.
I know that Adolph Hitler is the definition of evil for my generation but that can't be Tom Cruise's character's motivation. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was a German officer of that time. He was a contemporary of Adolph Hitler. Hitler wasn't a face in a history book to him. Hitler was a real person to him - he was the leader of the nation he had grown up in and loved.
Von Stauffenberg was German. He was a soldier. It couldn't have been easy for him to decide to assassinate his supreme commander. He is a great man for making this decision. At the beginning of the movie he's basically already decided this. We're never given any real evidence for the removal of Hitler as per our hero.
All we're really given is that he got blowed up real good in Africa and comes out of the hospital determined to kill Der Führer. I know Hitler's evil. You know Hitler's evil. Why did Von Stauffenberg believe he was evil?
There are many moments of beautiful subtly and character interactivity. There is exactly one scene that tries to show that our hero actually is a hero. A scene where a large number of people join Von Stauffenberg and pledge allegiance to him and his cause.
The scene breaks your heart - and for me it served to highlight the fact that the movie needed more of this sentiment throughout. So, watch this movie, but please also watch the documentaries on the DVD to learn the stories around the events of the movie.
Valkyrie (Two-Disc Special Edition ) is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a June 8th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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