"Valkyrie" -- Terrific Entertainment!
The new Tom Cruise vehicle, "Valkyrie", long rumered to be a film in trouble, is absolutely terrific. Helmed by longtime stalwart director Bryan Singer, the movie has Cruise being Cruise, and a smartly plotted and well acted film does exactly what it intends to do: entertain the audience as well as inform them about a little known slice of World War II history.
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Running almost exactly two hours in length, "Valkyrie" is paced like a well formed thriller, with no shots being fired between the opening scene and some of the final. Instead, we get talented actors doing their uniform best to provide believable actions and motivations to historically accurate characters. Based on actual events, the movie tells the almost forgotten tale of a group of German officers and politicians determined to end Hitler's reign in the summer of 1944, fully one year prior to the actual end of combat in Europe.
One interesting point to be considered is whether history and the United States were better served by the failure of the plot versus its success. As the German resistance likely choice for Chancellor was an individual who, in the film at least, bears a striking resemblance to famed Red-baiter Senator Joseph McCarthy, is seems that director Singer feels that Germany would have fallen into the hands of Communist Russia had total victory not been achieved by the Allies the following year. Yes, it appears that despite Tom Cruise' best efforts, history shows that the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life via Operation Valkyrie was a blessing in disguise (and in the form of millions of addition deaths during the remainder of the war) for the Allies.
Nice try Tommy.
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Running almost exactly two hours in length, "Valkyrie" is paced like a well formed thriller, with no shots being fired between the opening scene and some of the final. Instead, we get talented actors doing their uniform best to provide believable actions and motivations to historically accurate characters. Based on actual events, the movie tells the almost forgotten tale of a group of German officers and politicians determined to end Hitler's reign in the summer of 1944, fully one year prior to the actual end of combat in Europe.
One interesting point to be considered is whether history and the United States were better served by the failure of the plot versus its success. As the German resistance likely choice for Chancellor was an individual who, in the film at least, bears a striking resemblance to famed Red-baiter Senator Joseph McCarthy, is seems that director Singer feels that Germany would have fallen into the hands of Communist Russia had total victory not been achieved by the Allies the following year. Yes, it appears that despite Tom Cruise' best efforts, history shows that the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life via Operation Valkyrie was a blessing in disguise (and in the form of millions of addition deaths during the remainder of the war) for the Allies.
Nice try Tommy.
posted by joe sweeney at 4:10 PM
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