REVIEW
|
 Valkyrie
2009
Certificate: 12 | Runtime: 121 | Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson
 
By 1944, a small and dedicated group of German officers had become convinced that Hitler and the Nazis were driving their country towards eternal shame and ruin. They hatch a number of plans to assassinate the Nazi leader, but each seems to fail for one reason or another. When Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) joins the group, they hatch their most daring plan yet; to kill Hitler with a bomb and use his own civil contingency plan – Valkyrie – to disrupt the Nazi chain of command.
How, you might be wondering, is it even possible to make an absorbing and exciting historical thriller about events which are not only famous, but which can only result in a film with a foregone conclusion? Even if you aren't aware of the intricacies of the Valkyrie operation, you should at least know that WWII didn't suddenly come to an end in 1944. The answer is actually quite simple; you make it like Valkyrie. You use a combination of good acting, absorbing writing and professional film-making across the board to make a film that thrills, excites and even informs. Don't let the predictable ending put you off; Valkyrie is quite a ride.
Some have said that Cruise is a distracting presence in the film; a superstar with an eye patch sticking out in a crowd of mostly British thespians. This simply is not the case, however. Cruise brings his familiar steely resolve to von Stauffenberg; this is a man who believes 100% in what he is doing, and isn't afraid of the consequences. Moreover, Valkyrie also shows how Cruise is perfectly comfortable acting as part of an ensemble cast. With skilled names like Branagh (Major-General Henning von Tresckow) - who isn't really in the film enough - and Wilkinson (General Friedrich Fromm) putting in highly professional work, the film has a real sense of dramatic weight and gravitas about it. Elsewhere Eddie Izzard impresses in a non-comic role as General Erich Fellgiebel, while there are good contributions from Thomas Kretschmann (Major Otto Ernst Remer) and Christian Berkel (Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim) - the two German members of the main cast. Bill Nighy (General Friedrich Olbricht) is also solid, though his reputation for slightly quirky roles makes it strange to see him in a Nazi uniform - more than for any other member of the cast, including Izzard. And Carice van Houten is good as von Stauffenberg's wife Nina, but she has precious few scenes - a real shame.
Apart from the acting, which is uniformly good, the film is very successful at creating a near-constant sense of tension. This is partially because of the performances of course, but also because of the level of detail the film goes into. For example; while it's pretty much universally known that the plot failed and Hitler wasn't killed in 1944, few people are actually aware of just how close the conspirators got. The film has a purposefully gradual build-up to the assassination attempt, and then from the moment the planted bomb goes off things just accelerate brilliantly. The confusion, the panic, the decisive action from some and the dithering from others; all of these things contribute to a final third or so that is completely breakneck. There's a particular scene which simply involves ticker tape machines printing out conflicting information - just a thin bit of paper with words on it - but it's absolutely brilliant. For this aspect, credit really has to go to Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie for really keeping the pace up, the action the film has exciting, and the tension palpable.
There are some other fine elements that contribute to this aspect. The costumes are excellent; I know WWII films have predictably familiar costumes, but the ones here are noticeably fine in their detail. The film has refreshingly straightforward cinematography as well; no obvious tinting and things of that ilk. This lends the film a further air of authenticity and realism. And while John Ottman's score is ever so slightly flat, his editing is very good indeed - crisp, clean and hugely effective. Who'd have thought that a film about Hitler nearly being killed a year before his actual death could have had any tension in it at all; let alone be this exciting?© David Mercier
Discuss films and features on the FilmJudge Blog
|
|
RECENT REVIEWS
|
|
|
|
|
|
RECENT FEATURES
|
|
|
|
|
