Valkyrie

(2008)

Directed by

Bryan Singer

Review by Terry Plucknett

Can a story where you know what the ending before the story starts be suspenseful?  Logic tells you no.  If you know the ending already, how can there be any suspense?  Well, Valkyrie is able to achieve this illogical feat.

The story starts with Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) commanding his troops in Northern Africa as part of the Hitler’s Nazi Army.  He is discussing war strategy with his superior officer and how Hitler’s current strategy is nonsensical and will get his men killed.  Right after this conversation, the camp is attacked from the air, leaving many men dead and Stauffenberg badly injured, losing a few fingers, a hand, and an eye.  After he recovers from his injuries, he is transferred to Berlin to aid an underground group trying to rebel against Hitler’s tyranny.  He is put in charge of finding a way to dethrone Hitler and prove that not all Germans are like him.  His plan involves Operation Valkyrie, a contingency plan in case of an emergency that they try to use to their advantage.  However, any plan for dethroning Hitler starts with one task: killing the man himself.  The group organizes an intricate plot surrounding Operation Valkyrie that almost seems foolproof, but can they execute it?  This is where the film gets its suspense.

The cast of this film is superb from start to finish.  Tom Cruise once again proves that he is more than just a celebrity; he is also a brilliant actor.  The supporting characters portrayed by Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, and Terence Stamp were as heart-felt and memorable as Cruise’s Stauffenberg.  However, this film is not Cruise’s movie or even the ensemble’s movie.  It is carried and brought to life simply by the richness of the story and the script written by Christopher McQuarrie, making his first collaboration with director Bryan Singer since The Usual Suspects.  The history of the movie and the spirits of these men who actually tried to fight back against the Third Reich from within are what make this film brilliant and memorable.

When you have a subject matter this sensitive and rich, the biggest issue of the filmmakers is to not mess it up.  Luckily, Bryan Singer, as he has done with The Usual Suspects, and the first two X-Men movies, was able to bring this story to life and make it feel fresh.  It was a story that needed to be told, as many people had never even heard of it, and Bryan Singer told it to the best of his ability, which often leads to greatness.

This is an important, historical movie that will leave you in wonder and intrigue until the climactic final scene.

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