Valkyrie (2008) Dir: Bryan Singer
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Bryan Singer's 2008 depiction of the final German attempt to assassinate history's most famous dictator during World War Two looked like an interesting, if strangely Hollywood, take on one of the Twentieth Century's most interesting what-if moments. I had been aware of the film for a while, and I was keen on seeing if it was any good.
Based on what I already knew of what took place, as well as some subsequent research to check, the film gets a lot of the events that took place right. Of course, there are some creative liberties taken for the sake of drama and storytelling, but these weren't all that egregious for the most part.
The costume design and props were excellent - they all fit the period and the regime that they were imitating. I also think the sets were well constructed, and served as convincing settings for the film's pivotal scenes. The cinematography may not have been flashy, but it did the job.
The story was fine, but it felt a little longwinded. I realise there was a lot going on, but I think it could've been done in a more succinct way. I do appreciate many of the efforts to be historically accurate, but the film is twenty minutes too long. For whatever reason, the film didn't resonate with me emotionally as much as some of the more effective war films out there.
Tom Cruise had some well acted scenes, but, by and large, this was a fairly standard and unspectacular performance. Every now and then, there would be hints of his best, but the majority of the time, it was simply around the adequate mark.
The rest of the cast had fairly minimal screentime by comparison, but the standouts were clearly Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp and Kenneth Branagh, despite the latter having very little screentime. Beyond these actors, the other notable names included Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Cranham, David Bamber, Thomas Kretschmann, Eddie Izzard, Tom Hollander and Matthias Schweighöfer.
Overall, this was a fine but somewhat forgettable historical war thriller. I didn't mind it, on the contrary, there was a good deal I liked about it, but I found that it lacked the emotional impact I had hoped for. There was some good suspense, some good action, but ultimately not quite enough.
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