Bryan Singer, my hero

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2008)

"But what about the coup, sir?" "You idiot, we ARE the coup!"
This movie blew me away. Everything worked for me.
There is no black and white here, I enjoyed that very very much. Just humans, trying to make sense of an insane situation. Make-up was astounding, CGI flawless and understated, editing, wow, score and use of score and use of silence, holy sh*t. And let's mention the actors, because I forgot I had a body after five minutes. Tom Cruise is a genius, there's nothing he can't do. Bill Nighy, Christ, this is as far from Love Actually as you can get, and he nailed it. Tom Wilkinson, wow, such a performance, every single one of the sideline acting without lines, every single one flawless, the girls at the communications office, the secretary, the young man with curly hair. Wow. Script is awesome, directing is the stuff dreams are made of. Remember, this story is about one of the failed attempts to murder Hitler from within his own ranks, in the middle of a war. No one is calm anywhere in the movie. Acting is all on the brink of whatever emotion, most commonly hysteria. Eddie Izzard, you own my soul. Kenneth Branagh, endless quality, Terence Stamp, man, he's just pure class. I love the absence of fake German accents in English. Everyone speaks their natural dialects. Hitler was fabulously portrayed, he was not a physically imposing man, but his awesome power as head of state of a brainwashed regime in war, wow, they really pulled it off. Everything slowed down when Hitler was in a room, his every movement was watched by all, there was the complete sense that you could not guess what his next move would be.
So, yes, this movie worked very well for me. Yes, I knew the ending. I kept telling myself I did as my heart tried to pound its way out of my chest. Great storytelling kept my nails trimmed none the less.
You remember that masterpiece about the bridge in Burma? Where the guy who lives has the line "Madness. Madness!" yeah, that's pretty much it. I'd say this is not about oooh evil Nazis vs. look white hats! so much as a study in which really is which. There are few characters in this movie who don't wear svastika and eagles on their clothes after all, so how do you tell the difference? This is not a movie you watch only for the beginning, middle, end. I say very well done, Mr Singer.