Valkyrie

'Valkyrie' opens big with a German military camp being attacked from above. After surviving an initial blast, our hero, Tom Cruise, emerges dazed and helps a fellow comrade into a jeep to make a heroic escape. Naturally, the jeep doesn't start fast enough for them to avoid a second blast. Cruise survives, but minus an eye and a hand. This is the only real action sequence of Bryan Singer's new 'Valkyrie' and is, indeed, not your average Tom Cruise film. Cruise plays Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg, who emerged from the attack resolved to stop Hitler before the rest of Germany suffered similar destruction at the hands of the world that he set out to conquer. Based on actual events, the film then follows Stauffenberg as he joined a private faction of German commanders who quietly plotted what would be the last attempt on Hitler's life. Sadly, the only thing they succeeded at was getting Hitler's signature on what was, unbeknownst to him, the document which authorized the dismantling of the entire S.S. in the event of Hitler's death (codenamed 'Valkyrie').
But for all the historical significance, the is still a Bryan Singer movie. The events are played out with a pulpy air of suspense, where the drama often feels more like television than cinema. Considering the RAMIFICATIONS, a heightened sense of fear is more than expected from those planning to kill what was easily the most dangerous man in the world. But much of the acting can't help coming off as exaggerated. The primary reason for this is probably the fact that every character is speaking english. Whether sporting accents that are anywhere from American, English, to even German; this is a little too clearly geared towards english-speaking audiences. Documents and wires printed in German are met with reactions spoken in english. National radio broadcasts go out, and even Hitler himself speaks, entirely in English! Now I understand that this is an American film, but one can't help worrying that German audiences might find this little detail pretty ridiculous, if not somewhat insulting. It doesn't help that the film's lead has been THE all-American golden boy for the past two decades.
Cruise, despite reports to the contrary, is not bad. He wears deep fear under his stern face and holds his own against the likes of Terrence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, and Bill Nighy (standing out here as one of Cruise's terrified Generals). But the real stars here are Singer and his screenwriters. As faithful to the actual events as the film may be, the level of suspense is always at such a welcome high that it hardly matters. Singer seems to use his background in the action genre to give the pacing a meticulous attention to detail, which is especially pleasing during the film's climax. At the end of the day though, this is all just a big, fun, edge-of-your-seat thriller. One could commend the filmmakers for trying to marry it with such an emotional place in history; but, as one character says, "This is a military operation, nothing ever goes according to plan".