“Valkyrie” has brought about numerous questions ever since its release date was moved from month to month. Nevertheless, the film will apparently be out on Christmas, but is its premise joyful enough to match the holiday spirit? Not at all. But Tom Cruise is the kind of attraction that draws audiences throughout the year, notwithstanding the season.

 

Filling the shoes of Hitler’s possible assassin, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, Tom Cruise is both the key of “Valkyrie,” as well as its broken locker, because the actor does not wear the role properly. He carries a disarmingly awful contemporary cover that clashes with the true meaning of the film and somehow outshines the historical implication of the happenings, which in the end lose themselves in a bunch of pointless explosions.

 

Tom Cruise’s failure in portraying Col. Claus von Stauffenberg flawlessly is probably the weakest element in the movie, which is actually outstandingly well-constructed. It benefits from an unimpeachable production design and an exceptional representation of German locations, including the Bendlerblock in Berlin, where Operation Valkyrie started and where members of the anti-Nazi opposition were killed following its failure.

Everything about the film seems extensive and ample, as it budges sinuously and does not give the impression of stiffness.

 

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg joins the German Resistance on the last of several unsuccessful schemes to remove Hitler. He wants to plant a bomb and subsequently lead an administration change known as Operation Valkyrie, inspired by Hitler’s own crisis plot to keep the government on its feet in case of his sudden death.

 

A movie based on such a premise would normally cross the line with action-packed scenes and dreadful moments, but “Valkyrie” manages to escape all of these traps and deliver what one would expect it to deliver: a historical statement that still has a powerful influence on nowadays society.