Operation: Valkyrie—Should’ve Aborted

Valkyrie (2008) – dir. Bryan Singer; starring Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh

I caught an advanced screening in Philadelphia of this movie, which gets a wide release on Christmas Day.  I think I was one of the only people who hadn’t yet been exhausted by the Tom Cruise media-blitz when I decided to see this; I could barely find anyone to accompany me, because the mere mention of the actor’s name elicited long groans from everyone within earshot.  I, however, was psyched; the trailer looked awesome and I had been hearing early buzz that this movie, plagued with every trouble that could possibly strike a project, could actually be good.  And so, I waited in the theater for two hours while the film tried to make its way into Philadelphia.

Sadly, Valkyrie was not worth the wait.  This film—following the final of many unsuccessful plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler—was stiff and shallow, trusting that the audience’s knee-jerk hatred of all things Nazi can stand in place of actual character motivation.  Valkyrie suffers from an inevitability that exists in many historical films, but feels particularly frustrating here because of the extraordinarily high price of failure.  It’s a fascinating piece of history, one that I imagine would be way more interesting in a History Channel special than this movie.

After loyally proclaiming Tom Cruise’s acting merits these last few years, I was really disappointed by his work in Valkyrie. He simply cannot play anything but a star, and the movie doesn’t give him room to try.  His character, the woodenly heroic Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, delivers each line with a visible awareness that he is creating an heart-pounding moment.  His performance is too Hollywood—the same sin that made Cruise’s The Last Samurai just as boringly epic as Valkyrie.  It is a shame that the man who thrilled as Tropic Thunder’s biting and hilarious send-up of a studio honcho resorts in this film to every groan-inducing Tom Cruise cliché.  The result is not so much Colonel von Stauffenberg as it is Tom Cruise playing Colonel von Stauffenberg, which is much less interesting to watch.

My biggest problem with this film is its refusal to dig deep into the crime of Nazism that is supposed to justify von Stauffenberg’s treason.  The film begins and ends with the assumption that Hitler was bad for Germany, but that’s too simplistic.  Fascism was seductive and persuasive; for many, the Fuhrer was synonymous with the nation.  Valkyrie misses an opportunity to substantially engage the question of duty, opting instead for tired Hollywood moralizing.  Von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators are clear-eyed, pure-hearted rebels who seek to purge Germany of its Nazi evil.  It’s a simple formula: Tom Cruise good, Nazis bad—and one that is depressingly insufficient for a film that’s really no fun at all.  I could forgive Valkyrie’s uncritical perspective if it were intriguing, but the hollowness of the film plot took away a lot of the tension and suspense from the assassination plot.

Now, I’m not one to criticize without purpose; I have a suggestion for any of you who want to see the movie Valkyrie wishes it were.  Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969) is absolutely riveting.  This story of French Resistance fighters knows that the truth has enough drama; there’s no need for manipulative scoring or epic cinematography.  What’s missing from Valkyrie abounds in Army of Shadows: the intrigue of seeing each meticulously-planned detail of an operation being perfectly executed; the heartbreak when something doesn’t go to plan; the impossible struggle to bury your fears and concern for your own person in order to serve a higher purpose.  Valkyrie was too clearly a studio product for me to care about any of the characters; Army of Shadows is thrilling and poignant, affecting in a manner that doesn’t feel as if someone’s deliberately tugging at your heartstrings.  My advice: save some money during this tough holiday season and forgo this particular movie ticket in favor of the rental price for Melville’s masterpiece.