Respectable and rather tense Second World War thriller which manifests suspense and danger around a group of men looking to make a grandeur change.

Rating: 7/10 (31 May 2010)

The camera slowly, tantalisingly zooms in on a spinning record whilst bombs are falling all around the building the contraption is in; our lead and his family helplessly cowering in a basement as the loud and proud emoting of Wagner's 'The Ride of the Valkyries' booms out of the gramophone when the rumble from another explosion pushes the needle back onto the track. It's an important sequence, the scene in which whilst down there in that basement taking cover from the very bombs designed to injury him as he figures out a way to aid those they belong to, our lead hits upon the idea of enforcing an operation; a plan that might bring about the ending of World War Two, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives, but at the risk of his own. It's a powerful moment, one that gives our lead an idea, impetus and strength within an individual happening designed to maim and destroy. Such is the nature of the lead, showing strength through adversity; like all of those that were members of whichever resistance movement in whatever nation at that time.
And from whence the thriller Valkyrie gets its name is revealed, a 2009 Bryan Singer film about the true story revolving around a certain man named Claus von Stauffenberg, a German colonel in the upper throngs of the Nazi party during World War Two, who took it upon himself to wipe out Adolf Hitler in a bid to have the German political hierarchy thrust into chaos as The War chugged into a fifth year. The film sees Singer return to material of a Nazi orientated nature for the first time since 1998's Apt Pupil, another rather terrifying drama, that time about a young boy becoming gradually more and more obsessed with a specific text in The Holocaust as themes of blackmail and the exploiting of power one supposedly possesses over another person, the likes of which the young boy had been reading of, became more frighteningly apparent.
In Valkyrie, another look at the dangers or misuse of power is observed; the determination of Tom Cruise's von Stauffenberg in achieving what it is he wants so dear by way of knowing he can be in such close proximity to an individual of such infamous nature is played out, an advantage he utilises so as to put a plan of action into motion. Others are connected, a flurry of British actors curiously both hovering and revolving around American Cruise's whim, all of whom playing true to life German officials that want an end to the madness and murder as Hitler prolongs the deaths of the innocent and those serving on the various fronts of The War. They know the risks; they know their mission and they're aware of what it'll take of them when the scene in a church sees von Stauffenberg talk to Bill Nighy's general, a certain Friedrich Olbricht, for the first time about the idea of trying to initiate operation Valkyrie plus ideas about how setting out in eliminating a man is still a mere act of murder. Indeed, later on Olbricht observes that while they're doing their best to save lives and end suffering: "only God can judge us"; the theological elements of following through with this mission made aware.
Cruise's von Stauffenberg is a battle scarred man, weary of the war and an individual with experience of the front line when an attack on his desert troops in Tunisia by an American Flying Tiger fighter plane leaves him without a right hand and a left eye. His wife is Nina (van Houten), her and their children those whose lives we feel are in greatest danger when he is away and indulging in his plans; here Singer using the innocent lives of von Stauffenberg's family to act as representatives for those of the greater nature of who'll be saved if the plan succeeds. One scene sees von Stauffenberg attempt to call home by way of the telephone, but recent bombing has made communication difficult as von Stauffenberg's situation becomes increasingly precarious. He places the phone down and it hangs ominously on the receiver, teetering as if on a cliff edge; rocking back and forth as a photograph of his family stare back at us with the phone in the foreground: the outcome of their situation remains unanswered and certain fates of the von Stauffenberg family remain in the balance as the phone continues to rock as if to dramatically become unhooked at any moment.
The film covers his gradual infiltration of Hitler's Nazi party higher members, and his consequent invitation to the heavily fortified Wolf's Lair, located deep in rural Germany, in which the strike will eventually occur; an idea met with some disdain from certain people early on, particularly Tom Wilkinson's Friedrich Fromm, when Singer applies a number of profile shots of men facing each other in a showing of anger, disagreement and confrontation. His direction is taut and punchy, taking a true story of which few will have heard of but mostly all will know the result of within seconds of it being detailed, the film's expositional tidbits from fully grown men explaining plans and complicated political procedures and agendas to one another harmlessly inter-cutting with the pot-boiling and execution of this plan to leave an awry suitcase in a dangerous place. The key to the drama is not knowing the outcome of von Stauffenberg and several of his cohorts, nor how it was they went about dealing with the situations they created. Singer's treatment of the material in that punchy, rapid fashion renders it accessible for more mainstream audiences without ever really degrading it or exploiting it for cheap entertainment's worth. The film is a tight and focused effort, involving in its own right and efficient in retelling a story of failure that needs not be forgotten.