Eye Candy #64 - "Valkyrie"

Valkyrie: A historical thriller based on the July 20, 1944 Plot by German military officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and bring about an end to the war, you really can’t get a finer ensemble cast together in this day and age. The pedigree for the group involved, even if you remove Tom Cruise, still leaves you over a dozen solid actors (all European) to rely on: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, Thomas Kretschmann, Christian Berkel, Terence Stamp. Directed by Bryan Singer, the film’s focus is Major Claus von Stiffener (Cruise) who, after being wounded in Africa, finds himself knee-deep in the plot to kill Hitler after being reassigned to Berlin in 1943. It’s an interesting point-of-view because seldom do WW2 movies focus on those Germans who weren’t fervent Nazis and SS, that were horrified by Hitler and what he was doing and fought from within to unseat him, however unsuccessful they were in their actions (and there were numerous attempts to kill Hitler, that failed due to a lack of resolve and bad luck). The film doesn’t give a good impression of the aftermath of the failed plot, as up to 7000 individuals were arrested and somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 were executed under the pretense of the failed plot (the movie only showcases about the executions of about 12 people, with no mention of the others). Uniformly well-acted across the board, with a tight script with solid dialogue, this was a GOOD movie and a return to form for director Bryan Singer after the disappointing “Superman Returns”. Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”