informative if superficial true life story

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2009)

If the plot to assassinate Hitler in the summer of 1944 had gone off as planned, you can be sure some enterprising studio mogul at the time would have made a film about the incident even before the ink on the ensuing peace treaty had had a chance to dry. But as the effort did, in fact, fail, we've had to wait more than sixty years for this particular piece of World War II history to find its way onto the silver screen. Well, better late than never, I always say.
In "Valkyrie," Tom Cruise plays Claus von Stauffenberg, a battle-scarred corporal in the German army, who helps to spearhead the conspiracy to bring Hitler's worldwide reign of terror to an abortive end. Writers Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander had really two basic options to choose from in approaching this material: either treat it as a thoughtful character study, probing deep into the psyches of the men involved, or handle it as a straight-ahead action picture, emphasizing the minutiae and the step-by-step process of the plan itself. In choosing the latter, the filmmakers have made a movie that is interesting on a superficial level (and certainly informative as a re-enactment of a fascinating event in history), but not nearly as memorable or compelling as it might have been had they chosen the former.
As director, Bryan Singer keeps things moving along at a fairly fast clip, even though the profusion of characters all dressed in similar uniforms sometimes makes it hard to tell who exactly everyone is and which side of the Fuhrer dividing-line each happens to fall out on. In fact, at times, the people who are involved in the conspiracy actually seem to outnumber those who know nothing about it. Moreover, Cruise's generally wooden performance prevents us from delving very deeply into the inner workings of the man he is portraying. In addition, Kenneth Branagh and Terrance Stamp are given too little screen time to register much of an impact in their roles as fellow conspirators.
Still, it's impossible not to be moved and inspired by the tremendous bravery and heroism demonstrated by these men or by the incredible personal sacrifices they were willing to make to do what they knew was right. Of course, "Valkyrie" comes with the same built-in limitation as "Titanic" - which is that we know even before we enter the theater how the story itself will turn out. It's a tribute, therefore, to Singer's skill as a director that he still manages to generate as much genuine suspense as he does with the material.
"Valkyrie" succeeds more, perhaps, as a history lesson than as a stark human drama, but what an eye-opening lesson it turns out to be.