Walkyrie

Bryan Singer est vraiment un réalisateur audacieux, car il s’est lancé dans un projet difficile et risqué qui aurait pu finir en fiasco. Mais il n’en est rien et, au contraire, il est parvenu à dépeindre de façon réaliste un combat courageux et malheureusement vain contre la défaite et la débâcle totale de l’Allemagne. Cruise ne m’a pas déçu, ce qui était à prévoir. Par contre, le rôle qui me déçoit légèrement est celui de Kenneth Branagh, même si, sur l’affiche, il est juste derrière Tom Cruise – à l’écran, on ne lui a pas laissé beaucoup d’espace. Et le fait qu’il joue bien les nazis, il l’avait déjà montré dans Conspiration. C’était aussi un bon pari d’avoir misé sur des acteurs britanniques chevronnés, qui ont remarquablement joué leurs rôles. Les dix dernières minutes, crédibles et magistrales, m’ont profondément secoué. Bravo ! (28/01/2009)

Ceux qui aiment plonger dans cette problématique historique apprécieront le plus "Valkyrie". Bryan Singer aborde le sujet de manière responsable et il ne semble pas avoir embellie les faits historiques pour rendre le film plus marquant. "Valkyrie" ne joue pas, elle n'a pas d'"ambitions artistiques élevées", elle ne s'exprime pas sur la politique comme le fait "Munich" de Spielberg. Elle reconstruit simplement les événements comme un solide thriller conspirationniste - d'une valeur de production élevée, captivant sur le plan du scénario, bien interprété (le personnage le plus petit mais le plus intéressant et le mieux joué est le général von Tresckow interprété par Branagh). Et à la fin, il y a aussi des émotions et une profondeur narrative qui nous rappellent que quelqu'un a eu le courage d'essayer au moins... PS: Le magnifique thème principal de John Ottman. (16/01/2009)

A historical thriller executed with precision, which, even despite the handicap of having a known ending, manages to generate tension better than most of today’s competition. Cruise is not quite up to the task, which results in several uneven scenes (the ones with his wife), but the perfect performances of the rest of the cast more than make up for it. It’s not a perfect film by any means, but I still liked Valkyrie more than three fifths of this year’s Oscar contenders. (16/02/2009)

It couldn't have been filmed better (probably). This thought popped into my head during the closing credits. Singer has turned a theoretical weakness (the viewer knows how it will turn out) into a major strength and subordinated everything to a perfectly refined style. Complaining about a certain coldness in a film that takes place in a setting of perfectly cut uniforms and precise military hierarchy is like accusing romantic films of moving you. Cruise is whipped to the max in the company of the (mostly British) acting elite, with Singer taming his ego enough to make his character serve the story as well, not the other way around. I’m tempted to give it full stars for the tense quarter of an hour that immediately follows the explosion. But I'll save the last star for when the DVD version is at least 20-30 minutes longer, which will fix the minor mistakes (I’d like to see stronger motivations for some of the characters). 4 ½, knowing that this is one of the strongest cinema experiences of the year. Edit: After seeing it a second time, I send all the criticisms to hell and give the film the full thumbs up it deserves. (09/02/2009)

A fairy tale that is simplified beyond bearable limits, about the struggle between good Germans and ultra-evil ones, where all the motivations of the coup d’etat are summed up in the phrase "Hitler is simply evil. Excuse me, but what's that supposed to be? At least they could have touched on the real reasons. I felt as if I were on the verge of adulthood, and my parents were explaining to me that babies were created by mom and dad kissing, and then a few months later a stork delivers the baby. But despite the general knowledge of the event, despite Cruise being just Cruise and not Stauffenberg, despite the Germans scheming in English, despite the transformation of ranks and terminology to what they are called in the West, despite the inaccuracies, despite the unintended ridiculousness of the eureka scene (including the light bulb turning on!), Singer made the almost impossible possible. After a weak opening half hour, my respiratory system stopped working for tension in many scenes. So I left the movie theater pretty damn happy, but I'd still rather someone did a better job, faithfully, and in detail. Ideally under HBO's supervision. (05/02/2009)