Valkyrie
Review
by Anthony Morris
|
|
Director Brian Singer (The Usual Suspects) knows
how to put together a gripping story, and despite being based on a true
story, everyone knows the outcome.
So for much of it's length Valkyrie
is a lean exercise in ratcheting up tension.
By 1944 World
War II was clearly going badly for the Germans, and for some - sadly,
not all that many - the bwith an eye patchest solution was to assassinate Hitler, seize
power, and sue for peace.
Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom
Cruise) was chief of staff of the reserve army, a decorated veteran who
had lost a hand and an eye in battle.
Oh yeah - and he was the dude who ended up planting
a briefcase full of explosives under a table during a conference with
Hitler...
Everyone knows Hitler died in a bunker in 1945, so
there is not much room for a twist ending here.
Yet somehow Singer
constantly finds ways to crank up the tension.
Whether it be postponed
bomb plots, numerous variables refusing to go the plotters way (if
Hitler had held the conference in his bunker as planned, the explosives
would have killed him; instead, thanks to warm weather, they met in a
hut) and the constant trembling of a plan that seems just plausible
enough to work coming up against obstacles that just might be enough to
stop it.
Cruise is blandly heroic as von Stauffenberg, but on this occasion
that is good enough.
This is a film of action, not character.
Unfortunately, the all star (mostly British) supporting cast are a
little too unsteady to sustain the tension required.
Bill
Nighy and Tom Wilkinson especially seem more like cartoon nazis than
the actual thing, while David Bamber as Hitler seems more like the real
deal.
Ultimately, it's the numerous gripping sequences that stick with
you after the credits :
The confusion when a vital briefcase goes
missing after a failed assassination attempt, von Stauffenberg fumbling
one-handed to arm the bomb, and the watchful eyes of the conspirators'
underlings when the plot to seize power lurches into effect.
Gripping stuff.
4 out
of 5
Valkyrie
Australian release: 22nd January,
2009
Official
Site: Valkyrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Stephen Fry, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard
Director: Bryan Singer
|
