Valkyrie

The first in what turned out to be another marathon film weekend.

Saturday, and what turned out to be a very popular Tom Cruise film. The queue to get in was enormous! It was out the bloody door!

For what seems like a long time Cruise's films have suffered from what has affectionately been termed the "Tom Cruise Effect". This usually results in people not liking the film and giving it bad reviews simply because Tom Cruise is in it. It's an effect I first found out about when I wrote a review of War of the Worlds.

However, Cruise has finally found a way around this in Valkyrie. People aren't giving it bad reviews because Tom Cruise is in it. They're giving it bad reviews because it's historically inaccurate!

Not that most people will probably realise this. The few parts of the assassination plot that I remembered from school were all present. In any case, historical accuracy is all a matter of perspective and balance. Completely accurate historical films are called documentaries. Almost any other film has to, at some point, deviate from the historical record in order to tell the story well.

What was more interesting was the performances from Cruise, Bill Nighly, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard and Terence Stamp. The story of how small details built up into unsurmountable obstacles.

OK, so half the time you can tell that Tom has just shoved one hand up his sleeve and is folding two fingers into his palm to play the injured Stauffenberg. But a film that held a minutes silence before every day's shooting in his memory isn't going to take massive liberties with the truth.

Score: B-
OQ: We have to show the world that not all of us are like him.
Trivia: The June 20th assassination plot was the last of the fifteen known attempts on Hitler's life.
You'd think he'd get the hint after the first five or so, wouldn't you?