CHICAGO - MOVIE REVIEWS VALKYRIE

MOVIE REVIEWS VALKYRIE

You can say this about Tom Cruise's Valkyrie The reviews for it were far worse before anyone had seen it than they are now that it's out. It's almost as if some Hollywood gossips were sounding the drumbeat for the film's failure in order to put that vanilla, sofa-jumping Scientologist in his place for daring to play the leader of a German plot to assassinate Hitler during World War II. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the reviews refer to the early blasts at the film by gossip columnists. (Citing "those who've gotten an early glimpse" of the film, Courtney Hazlett, who turns out MSNBC.com's Scoop column, wrote, "Cruise's performance elicits uncomfortable and inappropriate laughs." The major critics are not laughing, however. "Tom Cruise is perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role," writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times , adding, "I'm at a loss to explain the blizzard of negative advance buzz fired at him." Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer comments similarly "What's surprising about Valkyrie ... is that the film isn't half bad. It's certainly not the unwitting laugh riot that many (me included) expected." Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe & Mail also comes to Cruise's defense, although with identical coolness. "As for Cruise playing a career German officer, don't be too hard on his eye patch and his heel-clicking and that undiluted valor. Things could be much worse," he remarks. Another unenthusiastic commendation comes from Tom Maurstad in the Dallas Morning News "Mr. Cruise is fine, providing his character with the requisite dash and determination." And Manohla Dargis in the New York Times comments that Cruise "gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor." Indeed the film itself receives mostly decent reviews and a few that are quite admiring. Ty Burr begins his review in the Boston Globe this way "It is my duty to report -- to the possible chagrin of more than a few readers -- that Valkyrie -- is not a disaster. On the contrary It's a smooth, compelling ... World War II action-drama in which an intriguing (but not electrifying) star performance is buttressed by stellar support." And Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post concludes that "against all expectations, [Cruise] has fashioned a successful if not exceptional film." Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal comes to the same conclusion. "Mr. Cruise's performance turns out to be brisk and reasonably plausible, though unexceptional, while the production as a whole succeeds as an elaborate procedural, impressively staged in historical locations," he writes. And Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times judges it to be made "with impeccable professionalism."

25/12/2008