The coup crowd

Despite Tom Cruise, Valkyrie is an engaging WWII drama that avoids many potential missteps

HITLER HATERS: Valkyrie

by JEFFREY MALECKI

The skepticism surrounding the choice of Tom Cruise as the heroic lead in Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, an engaging account of a failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, was certainly not misplaced. Germans still struggle with their historical legacy, with their involvement in one of the 20th century’s most sordid chapters, so representations of World War II are often politically charged. In fact, Germany held off for many years in allowing this film to be shot at some of the original, historic locations.

Surprisingly, Cruise’s typically wooden acting suits his rise from a wounded colonel into the upper echelons of a resistance movement that’s well organized but in need of a stoic man-of-action. But, it’s often difficult taking Mr. Cruise seriously, secretly knowing that he’s probably connecting his role with Scientological spaceships and “engrams”—and especially when he’s wearing an eye-patch and heiling Hitler with a stump for an arm.

But the plotters are well cast, especially Kenneth Branagh as the impassioned Major-General von Trescow, and Tom Wilkinson as the evasive General Fromm, who turns a blind eye rather than directly support the coup. And their plan—to commandeer the reserve army in the wake of the power vacuum—is as bold as it is compelling to see unfold and eventually unravel.

I feel no spoiler alert is required here—if you don’t know that the attempt failed, you need an ear-boxing from a veteran and a chaperoned trip to the public library, young’n. While the events are well known, it’s the descent into failure on the day of the attempt that’s particularly gripping. You often feel that it may turn out differently, and this counterfactual potential is no small part of the film’s success.

There are moments where history falls prey to Hollywood excess (and the accents are laughable), but Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie are generally nimble in this respect. That there were no grave missteps in this tense historical drama (starring Tom Cruise, did I mention?) is quite a feat.

Valkyrie also offers some welcome historical commentary. With the plot failed, and the SS quickly taking power and reclaiming a brutal victory, the ultimate message is worthy of reminder: that for whatever it was worth, large swaths of German society were opposed to the Nazi regime.

VALKYRIE OPENS THIS
THURSDAY, DEC. 25