History is here

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2009)

I just saw the movie and I must say I was quite pleasantly impressed. For one I thought it will be a cheap dramatic shot with cheesy lines but even though it had a lot of this too, there's much more to the movie.
In short, the movie is based on the "July 20" plot when a handful of politicians and military men decided to get rid of Hitler. Historically, the invoked reason was the poor course of war and the Holocaust but the personalities behind the plot are much less documented than the actual events. "Valkyrie" does a good job at following the historical events, for the documented part and does an even better job at extrapolating what happened in the more shady areas of history. The plot focuses on col Stauffenberg and his role (slightly exaggerated) in the plot to assassinate Hitler and use the contingency plan dubbed "Valkyrie" to contain a possible counterstrike and ensure that power remains with the revolutionaries. When sheer chance foils the plot, Hitler's response is swift.
I must say that Tom Cruise is the only weak link here. Whether his fault or the writer's (or both, more likely), doesn't matter. What matters is that he overacts a lot and has been 'gifted' with about all the movie's cheesy lines, which he delivers in a very artificial way.
Bill Nighy plays Friedrich Olbricht, a head plotter, in a rather flat manner and he lacks presence and authority which result in a less than believable character. I like Nighy a lot, but he fails to deliver here.
Weak links aside, we are left with Terrence Stamp, Kevin McNally, Tom Wilkinson and Christian Berkel who manage to do a great job and bring historical credibility to the characters. This is not just because of the physical resemblance, but also because of a genuine style in which they play.
Of them, I like Wilkinson's rendition of Friedrich Fromm the most, although it was not mentioned that Fromm was also executed in the end. I didn't like the writing because Fromm was presented as ambivalent (wanting to remove Hitler but hesitant to join the plot) while in reality he was one of the few plotters which had the determination and will to act (alongside Stauffenberg and Goerdeler), in the end he tried to save himself by arresting everyone else and ended up facing the firing squad as well.
Stamp's Beck is presented mostly as civilian even though he was a General as well.
I would recommend this movie to all WWII 'fans' out there and for those seeking more than history, please try to overlook Cruise's overacting and cheesiness.