Valkyrie review

Source: Google Images

What a great way to start the first post by reviewing a fantastic movie for 2009. Movies of course is a form of entertainment to many, and of course there are mixed feelings for everyone about how it turned out. Some will say it was great, it was okay, and others might just hate the whole thing altogether. But of course, critics will be critics, and everyone has their share of opinions on everything.

For me, criticising a movie doesn't do any justice, simply because i know how much effort goes into producing, directing and acting in movies. Of course i'm no Spielberg, and i haven't been in any big budget Hollywood movie. The only movie i ever did was in Diploma, and that was just a 15 minute short film, the closest i've ever been to making movies.

Enough of my rants and lets get to the movie.

Valkyrie tells the true story of the plot by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and using Operation Valkyrie as the emergency plan to take control of the country. Major General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) takes an attempt to assassinate Hitler by smuggling a bomb aboard his plane, however it fails to detonate and the plans fail. General Olbricht (Bill Nighy) then recruits Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) into the German Resistance which he then learns of their plans of assassination.

The secret committee members include Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), Carl Goerdeler (Kevin McNally) and many others, and through careful planning and failed attempts, they manage to deploy Operation Valkyrie's reserve soldiers to maintain order in the plight of a national emergency. All in all, Valkyrie proved to be a historical thriller that just blew me away.

Cruise was attracted to the role of Stauffenberg after noticing how similar he looked to the Colonel.

Source: Google Images

A fantastic performance notably from Cruise and Nighy for their portrayals of their characters. All of these put aside and you can see the intricate details of the props used to film this movie, right down to the last detail of the pens. During the scene where Hitler signs the revised version of Valkyrie, the fountain pen clipped to Stauffenberg's bag is a Pelikan M100, produced in Germany during WWII.

The main cast of Valkyrie.
Source: Google Images

Director Bryan Singer is famous for his previous works such as The Usual Suspects, X2, Superman Returns and of course being the Executive Producer of the hit TV series House M.D.

One thing's for sure is that i'll be eagerly awaiting for his other works in the near future.