Cast: Tom Cruise
Director: Bryan Singer
Rating:
Enetertainment Quotient: 60%
Genre: Thriller/History
Runtime: 121 min
MPAA rating: PG 13

Synopsis:
This story is based on real incidents happened in Germany in 1944 during the Hitler regime of World War II. German Colonel Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) gets injured in a war at South Africa. He loses one eye, one palm and two fingers on the other hand. Stauffenberg feels that Hitler is doing more harm to Germany than any help. There is a group of officers who feel the same. He joins them and conspires and executes a plot to assassinate Hitler using Operation Valkyrie which holds key to the usage of reserved army in crisis.

What is special about the film?

1. We know the climax: All of us knew that Hitler final end came through the act of suicide. Hence we knew in advance that he was not assassinated. And the entire movie runs on an attempt to assassinate Hitler. It requires tremendous narrative from the director if the audiences already knew the climax. Bryan Singer who directed the most fascinating ‘The Usual Suspects’ comes up with another riveting thriller drama in the form of ‘Valkyrie’.

2. Humanitarians in Hitler Army: It is more fascinating because a part of German Army believes that Germany’s reputation is going down because of Hitler. This film shows the humanistic soldiers who are under director command of Hitler.

3. Glimpses of Hitler: I loved the way Hitler is shown. The entire film is shot from the point of view of Stauffenberg. Hence Hitler is shown for a few seconds in the entire movie – that’s too in flashes without revealing the entire body.

What I did not like in the film?
I wish the director has shown what exactly happened inside Hitler’s place when bomb exploded.

Tailpiece: Valkyrie is a tautly made psychological thriller with interesting background and is based on real incidents involving Hitler’s final months. This film has linear narration with no confusion.