Barb and I watched Valkyrie the other night and I was pretty impressed - this despite the fact that A.) I am not a Tom Cruise fan and B.) I obviously knew how the story was going to end. Cruise gives a decent performance here; in fact I think he is a pretty decent actor overall. I just have a hard time separating his phony Scientology persona from his film roles. I guess when you come right down to it, that's my problem and it's something I usually get over before too long whenever I watch one of his movies.
Anyway, Valkyrie is the story of an assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler by high-up German commanders in 1944. The cast is full of familiar faces such as Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp and the always dependable Tom Wilkinson. Everyone in the cast shines, particularly Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht. Director Bryan Singer is able to keep the action and suspense taut even though the eventual outcome is well-known by anyone with a smattering of world history. For this he gets high marks, as well as for pulling of a really handsome production of WWII Germany. The music is appropriately stirring throughout and the movie pays off with an emotion ending. If I were giving out grades, and I guess I am, I would give Valkyrie a nice, handsome B; it was better than I expected and I would recommend the movie to anyone interested in WWII history.
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That's precisely why I can't watch any Tom Cruise movie anymore. It's impossible for me to seperate the nutbag from the role
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