“Valkyrie”

Cast: Tom Cruise, Terence Stamp and Tom Wilkinson

Director: Bryan Singer

Rated PG-13 for violence

Running time: 120 minutes



Film director Bryan Singer manages to craft “Valkyrie” and all its supportive, historic material into a captivating, suspenseful drama that ticks down like a time bomb.

Singer shows historical facts need not be dry if their details are incorporated properly.

With the help of a smart script by Christopher McQuarrie, Singer brings together a healthy, tightly laced and well-paced thriller.

Designed for audiences moderately familiar with the July 20, 1944, ill-fated plot by a select group of top German military officers to take out Hitler, Singer produces an uncomplicated look at one of history’s “What ifs?”

Singer introduces a fresh and relatively factual account of the conspiracy, seldom depicted in detail on screen—with Tom Cruise’s Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg leading the way.

“Valkyrie” does, however, suffer to a degree from arrested character development, chiefly by Cruise, who adds little depth, soul or dimension to his role and, hence, doesn’t emotionally connect Von Stauffenberg to the audience.

In his book, “Countdown to Valkyrie,” which is slated for United States distribution in February 2009, journalist, biographer and historian Nigel Jones brings to life the real Stauffenberg story, which can only highlight Cruise’s undercooking of the film’s chief protagonist.

Factually speaking, Jones documents the real Von Stauffenberg as a religious, philosophical, poetry lover and an “able, energetic and charismatic career officer” with knack for horsemanship. He is spotlighted by his superiors as destined for a “glittering future.” These personal details would seem to lend themselves to a more forceful and spry effort at character flavor.

Cruise further underdelivers by not at least attempting a German accent.

Cruise, however, can’t be blamed for all the production’s minor defects and weaknesses.

The supporting cast, consisting of Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard, also offer little to help authenticate their roles as high ranking German Army co-conspirators by sticking to their British accents.

The script, while fairly accurate to historical detail, also fails to fully explore the roots of Stauffenberg’s eventual anti-Nazi fervor.

Except for Cruise expressing some concern for the lives of his men in the movie’s gritty North African opening scene, the origins of his anti-Nazi views are never really spelled out or crystallized by the film’s events—such as Stauffenberg’s multiple injuries sustained later on in that same scene.

The initial North Africa setting resembles a similar scene and circumstance in 1958’s “The Young Lions”—the screen adaptation Irwin Shaw’s 1948 popular fiction novel about the effect of World War II on the lives of three soldiers. “Lions” offers Marlon Brando playing a role similar to Cruise’s but with much more focus on that character’s personal and political transformations—something “Valkyrie” lacks.

One aspect of the film that did receive sufficient amplification would be an intriguing description of the actual weapon used to unsuccessfully ice Hitler: a bomb that doesn’t tick, but is detonated by acid instead of a timing device.

From a technical aspect, Singer also manages to cleverly alternate between stark and dull-colored cinematography to communicate the right dashes of intense mood. This is compounded strongly by a pounding musical score.

While the production’s holiday release helps place it on the radar for Academy Award nominations, that may be a bit of a reach. The movie is good, but doesn’t really rate as Oscar material—at least on the surface.

Nevertheless, “Valkyrie” generates enough intrigue to make it worthy of audience attendance well into the new year.