For some reason I thought Valkyrie was an action film, which may have been what ruined it for me. It suffers from predictability (it’s fairly clear that Hitler was not assassinated by a group of rogue Nazis), which left it dangling between a character piece and a made for TV movie. The whole character idea was scratched the moment they cast Tom Cruise in the lead and the rest of the sad bunch (Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson) just stand in front of the camera and deliver poorly written lines. Valkyrie is depressingly mundane and entirely formulaic, which made my distaste for it a little difficult, considering that there’s nothing actually wrong with the picture. As long as you don’t think that working Nazis and World War II into a cute little formula is wrong. Personally, I find it offensive and although it may be an important film to see based on subject matter, it is not enough of an excuse for turning something grand into something simplistic.
If you just need, need, need to see a movie about the Third Reich save yourself from Valkyrie and see Good. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival and although it’s far from perfect it tackles Nazi psychological frustration in a way that Valkyrie simply isn't willing to. Good is based on a play, and feels like it, but it’s characters are convincing in an oddly theatrical way. Don’t try to figure out what Viggo Mortensen is doing with a British accent while inhabiting the role of a German professor. Apparently the rules of reality don’t apply to World War II pictures and I for one miss The Hunt for Red October approach.
