When one stops to think of exactly how many films in the last sixty-odd years have been made about World War II, it boggles the mind. An encyclopedia that listed each of them, alphabetically, would run thousands of pages, and would still need to be updated every month. Today, we will open that book and run our fingers down to the letter ‘V’, to briefly discuss the newest addition to the ledger, freshly written in pencil, the Tom Cruise thriller Valkyrie.

Let it be known upfront that I am not against films made about the WWII era. Many of the greatest films of the 20th Century were drawn from that seemingly bottomless well, and there are undoubtedly fascinating stories still to be told. There is no question that, in terms of historical relevance, the World War II era may well be the most important we will ever know in our lifetimes. Larger-than-life characters, battles and the understanding of what might have been, for the world, politically, if not for Russian winters and a lack of available gasoline. The resistance movements that rose up in Hitler’s wake, throughout much of Europe and Scandinavia, were acts of self-sacrifice and nobility that seem, in this day and age, inconceivable. Many films, from Casablanca to Army of Shadows, have used solitary figures fighting against fascism as a background for cinematic greatness.

Valkyrie, despite a compelling story, is not one of them. It is, however, a reasonably enthralling thriller that maintains its suspense despite the decided handicap of being stuck with an ending that history will not allow director Bryan Singer to change. Herr Cruise stars as Claus von Stauffenberg, a colonel in the German army who joins a military coup of British ham actors to assassinate Hitler in hopes of ending the war and sparing Germany from certain defeat to the Allies. Stauffenberg’s intentions are noble, as he wants only to save his country and his family (with his wife, Nina, played to little effect by WWII-film vet Carice van Houten, the resistance-seductress of Black Book), although it is without question that the loss of his hand, eye and accent in a bombing raid in Africa during the film’s opening moments have left him more than a little resentful, as well.

Much has been made about the fact that Cruise forgoes even attempting a German accent after the film’s opening scene, but it seems a mild complaint. Most American actors are dreadful at accents, exaggerating the nuances to such a degree that they sound like parodies, so it’s better Cruise not bother with the harsh Teutonic dialect lest he end up sounding like a cross between Erich von Stroheim and Colonel Klink. The fact that Singer chose British actors (an able cast headed by Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Tom Wilkinson and Terence Stamp) to play Germans instead of, say, actual Germans says a lot about what era this movie truly evokes, whether Singer intended it or not.

That would be the dead ball era of 1960’s Hollywood, where the stories were writ larger than life and this exact movie would have starred Rock Hudson and Alec Guinness. Valkyrie is meant to be a blockbuster, and there’s nothing wrong with that, as there is nothing wrong with this film. Cruise and company aimed high, and came up a bit short, but as another in the endless WWII pictures it’s just that – another one. If you’re looking in that big encyclopedia I mentioned. and come to the letter ‘V’, perhaps you should try the movie Victory, a resistance picture starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and Pele as members of an Allied soccer team fighting the Nazis, instead. It was directed by John Huston, who used to make these kinds of pictures in his sleep, and Stallone never fakes an accent either. Not even an American one. – [DVD] – [Blu-Ray]

History/Thriller/War

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 5/19/09

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