REVIEW: Valkyrie

*Posted December 31, 2008*

Another movie with a dynamite supporting cast, Valkyrie is the story of Nazi Col. Tom Cruise and his plot to assassinate Hitler for the good of the world. He is aided by an organization of like-minded officers (including Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, the guy from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Terrence Stamp). Since we know that Hitler wasn't assassinated, we know that there plan is doomed to fail, and it makes the story that much more exciting. The scenes with Hitler (played by Cicero from ROME) are downright chilling, especially when he blindly supports Tom Cruise, not knowing that he signs off on the plan that will take him down. The assassination plan is well thought out and pretty cool, and they take it a lot further than I expected. You trick yourself into thinking, for a moment, that they acutally might succeed. But in the end, it comes crashing down pretty hard. And the non-accents are no problem at all. The beginning of the movie has Tom Cruise writing a letter, which is being said aloud in German, but it gradually fades out as English is phased in, and you quickly understand that, if they really wanted to be authentic, they would speak German. German accents would be funny and distracting (like they are in real life) so using plain English serves the suspense plot well. The first WWII movie in a while that doesn't care about battles or the Holocaust, I highly recommend this thriller.

B+