Valkyrie – DVD Review

By Lane Law May 18, 2009, 13:22 GMT

“Tom Cruise gives one of the best performances of his career” (Jeffrey Lyons, NBC/Reel Talk) in this action-packed film from the director of The Usual Suspects and X-Men. Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolf Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.   Co-starring Kenneth ...more

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".
 
I wanted this to rank among the great war movies. Right up there next to "Merrill's Marauders" and "The Great Escape" and "Saving Private Ryan". Sadly, it just wasn't.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie. It's a really good movie. But it's not great - and it should have been great.
 
I'm sure I'll watch this DVD over and over and can't wait to get through all of the special features, but this should have been a story of real heroism. We always wonder how a nation of people could not only allow but even aid one man in his quest to mangle humanity. 

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?
 
So it becomes a "men on a mission" movie, and it really is a pretty decent mission flick.  The film does a wonderful job of setting up an objective and then putting us through the exercises and the setbacks and the momentary successes all the way through to the final strokes.

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.