Genre
Drama | History | Thriller | War
Director
Bryan Singer
Country
USA | Germany
Cast
Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Kevin McNally, David Schofield, Christina Brekel, Jamie Parker, Eddie Izzard, David Bamber, Thomas Kretschmann, Harvey Friedman, Kenneth Cranham, Matthias Freihof, Matthias Schweighöfer
Storyline
In Nazi Germany during World War II, a cadre of senior German officers and politicians plot to topple the Nazi regime before the nation is crushed in a near-inevitable defeat.
Truth being told, "Valkyrie" is a quite solid and engaging historical thriller that works very well despite knowing the outcome before the film even starts.
In fact, even if you are an ignorant like me, and you didn't know about this plot to assassinate Hitler and to topple the Nazi regime, you know how this ends - unless you don't know anything about history -, but the story does have a good pace and the narrative is so good it really engage the viewer.
I do really admire the filmmakers for deciding to tell a forgotten/unknown-to-most story about real life heroes, men willing to sacrifice their lives to live in a different Germany, far away from the Nazi regime.
To my understanding, many have complained about the characters speaking in English without a German accent. I don't see the problem. Actually, I don't see why they should have an accent. That's the most clichéd thing one could do in a WWII film. And I liked that the film opened in German only to transition to English.
All of that being said, the film is by any mean perfect, and it's biggest flaw is the leading actor. I don't know how Stauffenberg was in real life, but Tom Cruise is a little stiff in my opinion. Also, he doesn't really do a thing with the character, and therefore it's hard to see a real person in him.
Opinion
I wasn't a bit interested about this film when it came out. First, I don't like Tom Cruise. Second, I labeled it as a boring film. I don't know why, probably because it's a historical/war film and I don't like the genre. But since Bryan Singer has done some pretty good stuff, including "The Usual Suspects", one of my favourites, I (finally) gave it a shot. How bad could it be, right? Well, I surprisingly found myself enjoying the film way more than I thought I would.Truth being told, "Valkyrie" is a quite solid and engaging historical thriller that works very well despite knowing the outcome before the film even starts.
In fact, even if you are an ignorant like me, and you didn't know about this plot to assassinate Hitler and to topple the Nazi regime, you know how this ends - unless you don't know anything about history -, but the story does have a good pace and the narrative is so good it really engage the viewer.I do really admire the filmmakers for deciding to tell a forgotten/unknown-to-most story about real life heroes, men willing to sacrifice their lives to live in a different Germany, far away from the Nazi regime.
To my understanding, many have complained about the characters speaking in English without a German accent. I don't see the problem. Actually, I don't see why they should have an accent. That's the most clichéd thing one could do in a WWII film. And I liked that the film opened in German only to transition to English.
All of that being said, the film is by any mean perfect, and it's biggest flaw is the leading actor. I don't know how Stauffenberg was in real life, but Tom Cruise is a little stiff in my opinion. Also, he doesn't really do a thing with the character, and therefore it's hard to see a real person in him.
I didn't mind this, but the accent thing threw me off. I think it's because films like Les Miserables, Anna Karanina, etc, even though they take place in non English speaking countries, they spoke with English accents. Cruise and co spoke with American ones, they were from a completely different continent, and that's what distracted me.
ReplyDeleteI know, but after all it isn't even that important.
DeleteNon perfetto, ma comunque davvero molto valido.
ReplyDeleteMi dispiace averlo recuperato solo pochi anni fa...
Anche a me dispiace averlo visto soltanto ora. L'ho sempre evitato per via di Cruise.
DeleteI find this an excellent film and I know this well. Actually there was a 2 part tv movie starring Brad Davis that is excellent. The accent thing didn't bother me at all and i thought they dealt with it quite nicely at the beginning. There are so few films that show that not all Germans were evil Huns.
ReplyDeleteExactly, that's my point! I really don't get all the complains about the accent thing.
DeleteNice review! One thing I love about historical movies (I guess, against a lot) is how unknown stories like Valkyrie can be told. It really gives a parts of history the chance to be known for. Though I typically like Tom Cruise, I agree his performance here was a little bit stiff.
ReplyDeleteThat's the only reason I was historical movies, to learn about stories just like this one.
Delete