Valkyrie a Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing. (Spoiler alert, if you can call it that)

Most everyone knows Hitler committed suicide in 1945 while the Allied forces were marching towards Germany. Fewer know of the no less than 15 attempts on Hitler’s life performed by “righteous” members of Germany’s Nazi party. Bryan Singer’s (Usual Suspects, Superman Returns) Valkyrie depicts the rise and fall of one such attempt: from the recruiting of upstanding men, to the formation of the plot, to the eventual quieting of the overthrow…

I somewhat apologize for the spoiler there but now is as good a time as any to discuss my opinion on making a historical suspense movie. Based on true events, this story takes the audience on a suspense ride to assassinate a man who everyone knows dies a year later. This fact is more than common knowledge so I must ask, Do the film makers want us to just put that idea aside for the duration of the film? Or do they actually think we don’t know our WWII history? What is it? I talked to a few people after watching and I told them that I was a little confused about seeing a movie where I know the outcome going in; they all jumped exactly to the movie that first popped in my head as well: Titanic. I think this is different though. That movie used the sinking of the Titanic as the occasion to showcase a tragic love story, the movie wasn’t really about the sinking of the ship. Valkyrie is a suspense thriller about the failed execution of an assassination plot. We know it fails because they chose the most famous man in modern history as the subject of the movie. Fear of unknown events creates suspense. We shriek in horror movies because we are never quite sure when the monster is going to pop out. How much suspense can a film create when the audience knows the protagonists are going to fail before the opening credits ever roll?

So while I was sitting in the theatre I kept asking myself, “Ok, would this be suspensful/thrilling/scary if I didn’t know that it was going to fail?” Maybe, but I doubt that is the question the movie producers want their audience asking so they must just assume we are going to suspend our disbelief right? Harder than it sounds.

Aside from lacking in genuine suspense the movie is just OK. No one uses a common accent. Everyone speaks in English and writes in German. All very distracting. I want to think that it was almost like a really good episode of the Mission: Impossible TV series. They get their mission, conduct it, and wrap it all up in a short period. They never really slowed down enough for character development or took the time to show us around Nazi Germany. I think the actors could have simply changed their costumes and it would have been a different movie. If they were wearing Storm Trooper outfits I probably would have thought they wanted to kill Darth Vador. They never once try and whisper to avoid being overheard discussing “the plan.” I mean, at least lower the Cone of Silence! Their actions are too much like every other suspense movie and not specific or detailed enough to be believable in WWII Berlin.

Most of the supporting cast delivered nice performances but Tom disappointed me. You put lipstick on a big, it’s still a big. I guess if you but an eye patch on Tom Cruise, he’s still Tom Cruise. I usually defend him because I think, at times, he can surprise you with nice character work but here he reverted back to the blockbuster deliveries and movements that have made him a star but held him back from Oscar status. This only adds to my thought that the movie is almost too general. The movie focuses too much on Tom, I’m sorry Cruise’s character, and ignores all the others needed to make this plan succeed.

At times my heart did speed up a little and I was interested in how they were going to make this work (again, after I let myself forget that they are going to fail). It was also fun to see a different side of Nazi Germany; a side where people wanted to stand up to Hitler and fight to change their country for the better. That is why this movie would probably work much better as a History Channel special. If you take away the Hollywood suspense and big name actors to distract you, you actually have a very moving story to tell. Making it something more than it is almost does injustice to the men and women who risked their lives to try remove this dictator.

Valkyrie will thrill you if you let it, but don’t set your expectations too high.