Valkyrie
By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment
Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer have joined forces again for the first time since The Usual Suspects in 1994, but, unlike that movie, this project isn’t going to impress people or win any awards. Valkyrie is not a bad film…it’s a well-made and sufficiently suspenseful thriller despite the slower pace and the fact that we already know the unfortunate outcome, but nothing elevates the story enough to warrant any extra attention. Nothing makes it great, and, considering the team responsible and their previous work together, that makes it an extremely disappointing endeavor.
The better than average supporting performances from Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, and Eddie Izzard all make Tom Cruise come across as a bit uninspired (unlike the extraordinary character he played in Tropic Thunder recently), but he didn’t detract from the film as much as everyone else claims. Even Cruise’s lack of a German accent was bearable because of the effectively handled transition from spoken German to English in the beginning of the film. The written words remain German throughout the movie, reinforcing the overall effect on multiple occasions.
- Score
- 5/10
Unfortunately, the desire to see the characters succeed in their mission ultimately results in disappointment in the same way that the original failed plot to kill Hitler must have disappointed the conspirators, and this proves to be the biggest problem with the film. (Although if they had succeeded in killing Hitler then Downfall, an excellent and detailed portrayal of his final days, would never have been filmed...and the most disturbing scene I’ve ever witnessed in a movie would not exist. A fair trade, to be sure.) The outcome of a story can’t be changed in order to fulfill the desires of the audience when the events are based on historical evidence, but I have to wonder if the story could have been told out of chronological order to have a more satisfying conclusion. Probably not…but it would have completely changed the critical reception of the movie if they could have worked it out.
