starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, and Terence Stamp
written by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander
directed by Bryan Singer
I made the Valkyrie poster above especially big because I think it's kind of intriguing artistically. I mean, the way that the red line leads you right to Tom Cruise without even realizing that it's forming a half-Swastika symbol. I mean, it's kind of cool in terms of design...
If only the movie could've followed suit.
I was actually looking forward to seeing this flick. I mean, the premise is kinda cool -- a rogue group of men in Nazi Germany attempt to overthrow Hitler. Unfortunately that general premise is all you get.
There's the aforementioned group of men...you never get an opportunity to learn their names or why they hate Hitler (I mean, it's obvious why one now would hate Hitler, but why would these Germans back then...I still don't know). Men in this group come and go...Kenneth Branagh in fact plays a big role in the first reel and then literally disappears until the final scenes where they wrap things up.
There's a plot to overthrow him, that's for sure, but there's never any tension there at all. Anyone who knows anything about history knows that this attempt to kill Hitler didn't work and it would be easy to say that the tension isn't there because we (the viewer) already know they failed. But, I love to watch someone fail...don't we all? So, it was just the inability of the writers and directors to drum up any sense of excitement.
The actors were all serviceable, although the variety of accents (ranging from American to British to German) was odd considering everyone was playing a German soldier. Cruise was decent, and although his character had at least some background, the scenes with his family were laughable.
No doubt, this assassination attempt on Hitler was a piece of history that I had no idea ever happened. Unfortunately, I'm thinking a documentary would've been more exciting than this dreck.
The RyMickey Rating: D
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