Valkyrie (2008)

Director: Bryan Singer

Starring: Tom Cruise and a shitload of Brits

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Many saw evil. They dared to stop it.

Plot: Based on actual events, a plot to assassinate Hitler is unfurled during the height of WWII.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Would I watch it again? Ja

I can't stand Tom Cruise. He's a douchebag; all 5 foot 2 inches of 'im. So when I heard that Singer was directing VALKYRIE, I was ecstatic. And then I heard Cruise was going to be the star. My heart and colon suddenly switched places. I love a good WWII story and I was sure that Cruise would fuck this up big-time. I was stunned to see that he didn't. I actually think he did a pretty good job in this one. Please don't hurt me.

I'm pretty familiar with this particular plot to kill Hitler, this one being the last of 15 attempts on his life).

THE SPOILERS HAVE LANDED...

They don't succeed.

END OF SPOILERS...YARRRR!

It's not too unlike TITANIC in that you know how it ends but it's the getting there that counts. Singer does a pretty good job of building suspense but I did leave with a sense that the tension could have been better. Cruise underplays his role which is welcome. Everything about the picture is well done. It's never boring, the actors are good (in particular Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson), the story is tight and seeing the plot almost succeed was great.

"Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles..."

I have only two real issues if you can call them that. First there's the finale where Cruise is about to be executed. They drag it out by having someone run in front of him and spout something patriotic. This was done only to extend the inevitable execution of Stauffenberg (Cruise) who is the last to be executed. And then there's THE ENGLISH ACCENTED FUCKING ADOLF FUCKING HITLER!!! I mean, COME ON! I'm sitting through this thing hearing not a single German accent (which I'm OK with) when they get to AH and he's got a fucking British accent, too! He's the single most famous Austrian/German in the history of the WORLD (with the possible exception of Falco) and you think that they'd at LEAST have this guy sportin' a German accent. Nope. What a letdown. He wasn't around much but still...

The bottom line is that it's good, quite good. It's the Tom Cruise movie for people who don't like Tom Cruise. So he did something good for a change...he's still a douchebag.