Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native Germany and joins the Resistance in a daring plan to create a shadow government and assassinate Adolf Hitler. When events unfold so that he becomes a central player, he finds himself tasked with both leading the coup and personally killing the Führer.
Valkyrie
Reviews
I really enjoyed this movie and I maybe one of the few that was not annoyed by Tom Cruise. Well as I'm sure most people know this movie is about the failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler.
The acting was very good throughout. I actually enjoyed Tom Cruise's performance but he did not take the lead as strongly as he should have. He did what had to be done but he could have elevated this movie like he has done to others in the past. His role needed that maverick type attitude like he provided in Born On the Fourth of July. His non-German accent was not an issue it was the strength that he displayed in his performance that was disappointing to many. This movie was certainly a chance for him to build his career back up to a more serious level but he clearly did not impress too many people with his role as Stauffenburg to do that. Still, he was enjoyable to watch for me.
The supporting cast though was great. Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson were all pivotal in the success of this movie and they certainly filled in perfectly. All around they were great performances but who I especially liked was Christian Berkel who I haven't heard of before as well as Jamie Parker.
The directing of Bryan Singer was superb. He provided an amazing amount of suspense to a movie that everyone knew the ending to. For a good half hour I was totally frozen watching as the plot unfold. I also thought the movie was paced very well and he brought the best out of the supporting cast. Of course it was shot very well with a great production throughout. The movie was written very nicely but as many people have said, it would have been great if there was more emotional depth added to the characters to make the audience feel more attached them.
This movie certainly had a lot of potential but it stayed within the realm of mostly a suspense action movie. Valkryie reminded me of a WW2 movie from the 50s and 60s with its style and pacing. It's very interesting to think about what ifs' and its kind of funny to think they almost pulled off the impossible without killing Hitler. Valkryie perfectly illustrates how the smallest of things can have the biggest impact.
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