Valkyrie

The Movie Itself was directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) and penned by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun).

After thirteen long years apart, the creative forces that brought about one of the finest mystery/drama/thrillers in cinematic history — The Usual Suspects — decided to team up once again, setting their sights on the compelling true story of Operation Valkyrie. It was a story, that I was unfamiliar with — having never learned about it in High School or College — but upon reading the synopsis, I couldn’t imagine the film being anything less than stellar, especially when it was announced that Tom Cruise was set to play the lead part.

I suppose I should give those of you that aren’t familiar with the story a little background before jumping into the film. The operation, code named Valkyrie, was an ingenious plot devised by high ranking military officers within Hitler’s army that, if successful, would have seen Hitler assassinated and the Nazi regime dismantled. As we all know, the conspiracy did not succeed, but the story of their failure is an important one indeed, and the film does a fine job of breathing life into this little known story.

However, despite the film’s apparent attention to detail, taught pacing, and stellar performances I ultimately left the theater shrugging my shoulders. I did so not because I didn’t enjoy the movie — I did — but more because the film’s message isn’t fully realized. What’s the point? It’s obvious they wanted to end the Nazi rule, and kill Hitler, but to what end? To seize power themselves, or would they have been more noble and restored balance to the war torn country?

Beyond that, I also felt somewhat ambivalent to their struggle, and ultimately their fate. And, because the story is one of failure I wasn’t particularly moved or inspired, at least not as much as I was hoping.

Still though, I can’t help but think that the film, and their story, has been done to perfection. In other words, I can’t see anyone ever lensing this story better than Singer, and I can’t imagine anyone ever writing a better script than McQuarrie, and that, I think, is probably the most tragic aspect of all. The film is as good as it will ever be, but it’s not quite the tour-de-force it might have been if the conspirators had succeeded, nor is it the hit that Tom Cruise needed to reboot his image. Therefore, the film resides in cinematic purgatory, living amongst a rare breed of films that are at once expertly crafted and mediocre.