Valkyrie

Can Tom Cruise really kill a movie? The backlash against Tom Cruise has been growing for years, for the scientology, for the ego, for the jumping on the couch, I don't really care about any of these things, I dislike scientology like most sane people but Cruise isn't one of the people on the street asking me to take a personality test, if most people can bear Russell Crowe, why not Tom Cruise? He has a more likable presence than Crowe, and while I don't like defending Cruise as an actor due to the hate that most people carry can't even be questioned, he can act, Magnolia is proof that he will deliver if paired with a director who can direct, and Bryan Singer can direct, none of his films are particularly bad (not even the confused 'Superman Returns'), but I'm going too far, Valkyrie isn't a great film, it is just not as bad as the internet press suggested leading up it, it is pretty gripping and suspensful despite the audience knowing how it is going to end, of course Adolf Hitler wasn't assisnated in 1944 but there are moments where you are hopeful, having said that while you might care for the narrative and the mission of these men, it is more difficult to care for the men, and that is due to a weak script and a not particularly strong performance by Cruise, the sound of this film will blow you away, see it with a good stereo system, it should be nominated for an Oscar but it won't be, because the ceremony has been and gone.