Geekshow

Review: ‘Valkyrie’

This just may have been all it was cracked up to be, and I may dare to say that, between this and his cameo in ‘Tropic thunder,’ Tom Cruise has officially redeemed himself.

I know It’s a little late to be reviewing (and possibly gushing over) the latest WWII film staring Tom Cruise in a super-cool eye patch.But let’s face it I’ve been really behind on my holiday releases.  So please bare with me while I play a bit of catch-up in the next week or two.  But moving on…

I went into this film experiance expecting a way too over the top performance by everyone’s favorite psychopath scientologist and nuttball.  But what I got was a very well casted and well crafted action film.

In a weird way, I am a little disappointed that I didn’t hate this film.  I’m just way too used to not liking Tm Cruise.  Even When He’s in movies that I absolutely love (e.g. magnolia) I find myself saying things like “Oh Tom Cruise was just way too over the top in X scene,” etc.  But there was really nothing about his performance I didn’t like this time around.

I think the one thing that I was really setting myself up to hate was the sort of minagerie of accents throughout the film.  Usually when there is a specific period piece with languages and accents that arent properly represented, It makes it hard to concentrate and throws the whole feel of the film out of balance ( e.g. Richard Loncraine’s ‘Richard III’).

But they write their way around it very nicely.  They have a soliloquy in the very beginning of Cruise speaking german and slowly fading into American English.  This is a wonderful transition and a great way of saying, “Well we know it’s all supposed to be in german… but just, please pretend because it was pulling teeth to get Tom Cruise to speak german for one minute let alone 90 minutes.”

‘Valkyrie’ had everything that a WWII action film needs.  It had a great suspenseful plot, explosions, really grainy handheld shots, an awesome use of Wagner, and even Eddie Izard as a minor role. The only thing missing was George C. Scott.

I also love the fact that this was a WWII film that doesn’t end with the American forces storming in to save the day.  It wasn’t an American vs nazi film.  It was very much a Germany vs. Nazi film.  And that was the most intriguing part of the whole story.   Too often, we get the “Just following orders” story about Nazi Germany, and it was Very refreshing to see the story of those who refused to follow.

‘Valkyrie” was a fresh take on the WWII genre and a suspenseful thrill ride that earns a place on my “best holiday films of 2008″ list.  And I am proud to say that Tom Cruise has boosted himself up a few notches in the past year and I would love to see him inmore redeeming roles and cameos in the future.