FILM REVIEW OF ''OPERATION: DUNKIRK" (2017)

Apart from some vintage, black & white, newsreel footage of the historic British retreat from France in 1940, director Nick Lyon’s “Operation Dunkirk” (** OUT OF ****) has nothing to do with that landmark event aside from the setting. “Operation Dunkirk” reminded me of an earlier World War II epic, director Walter Grauman’s “The Last Escape” (1971) starring Stuart Whitman. These two Second War World sagas chronicled the Allied rescue of important German scientists.  Whitman reached his scientist before the Russians. Similarly, a squad of British soldiers under Lieutenant Galloway (Ifan Meredith of “Metroland”) are ordered to find a German scientist (newcomer Eddie Curry) whose expertise in algorithms may significantly enhance radar technology.  Historically, radar saved England from the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940.  This critical technology enabled the English to detect German warplanes when they entered Allied airspace and alert Sir Hugh Dowding’s Fighter Command about them.  Furthermore, radar meant that the heavily outnumbered RAF would not have to maintain constant full-scale aerial surveillance.  This meant their pilots could grab some much-needed sack time between dogfights.  Consequently, the premise that a German scientist would possess valuable technological information about radar which would aid the British seems unlikely.  Meantime, this stubborn scientist has refused adamantly to share his algorithms with Hitler.  Now, historical accuracy doesn’t always make a movie more entertaining.  Consequently, Hollywood often plays fast and loose with the facts to heighten dramatic impact.

Anyway, back to the plot.  When one of several, hand-picked commandos asks Colonel Plummer (Gerard Pauwels of “Resurrection”) about their evacuation, Plummer barks, “Pull your balls out of your throat and be a soldier.” Later, Galloway and his five men cruise off in a jeep to a rendezvous with the French Resistance.  Armed with American .50 caliber Thompson submachine guns, they leave the jeep and cross a cornfield.  They don’t behave like battlefield veterans because they walk too closely together without a scout either at point or on drag.  When they arrive at a huge lumber storage facility, a member of the French Resistance challenges them.  By this time, the villainous Nazi officer, Strasser (Michael Wouters of “Sins of the Guilty”) has shot the unfortunate scientist to death. Galloway reacts with incredulity when the Resistance explains that they have a woman, Angelique (Kimberley Hews of “The Other Wife”), for him to escort back to headquarters. Not only is Angelique the late scientist’s daughter, but also she has memorized the algorithm.  Not long after the British show up at the lumber yard, the Germans arrive.  The fact the villains are hot on the heels of our heroes and stay one step behind them is a positive point in favor of Lyon and his writers.  Later, the same French Resistance member who challenged Galloway is captured, questioned, and then shot in the back by the Nazis.  Meantime, Galloway refuses to turn Angelique over to the Germans. A firefight erupts.  The Germans refuse to take cover.  Instead, they stand in the open and blaze away at the British hidden in a brick building.  The arrogant Strasser stands with his men as if he were bulletproof.  The Germans riddle the building with a hail of gunfire, and then they discover to their chagrin that the British and Angelique have fled.  All of this occurs during the first 30 minutes of this 95-minute epic. Happily, Lyon keeps the action moving forward at a steady pace.  Ultimately, he brings the action right down to the wire with a last-minute appearance of the Royal Air Force as the air force routes the Germans.

“Operation Dunkirk” doesn’t rank as your average Asylum quickie, knock-off.  “Rise of the Zombies” director Lyon takes and scenarists Geoff Mead of “I Am Omega,” and Stephen Meier of “Re-Generator” take themselves somewhat seriously.  Unlike most straight-to-video Asylum outings, the action is depicted in a largely straightforward manner, with the unsavory Strasser relentlessly pursuing the British.  Mind you, this is the same Nazi officer who not only derived sadistic glee in torturing, but also in murdering the scientist.  Strasser enjoys burning the hand of Resistance member with a clothes iron and then impales it with a screwdriver so he can induce the Frenchman to squeal.  At the same time, “Operation: Dunkirk” is a compilation of World War II clichés. First, Galloway and company must endure their commanding officer’s standard-issue speech: “This mission could not only save lives but win the war.”  Second, a seriously wounded British soldier insists on being left behind by his fellow soldiers.  When two Germans stumble onto him, he brandishes a hand grenade and blows them to smithereens.  Third, another British soldier steps on a cleverly hidden German booby trap by a tree.  Actually, these two scenes demonstrate Lyon’s dramatic strength as a director.  He generates suspense and tension in both instances.  My quibble with the hand grenade scene is that the soldier doesn’t know when to shut up.  The ironic thing about the booby trap scene is that the British commander saves his soldier’s life, but a shattered tree branch skewers his thigh like shrapnel and lodges perilously close to his femoral artery.  Meantime, it is interesting to note that Lyon provides subtitles so the nasty German officer can speak in German.  Since I am not fluent in German, I cannot comment on the accuracy of both the translation or the German language.  The appearance of Sherman tanks is a plus.  Blood is spilled in most of the combat scenes, too.

Clearly, Asylum produced “Operation: Dunkirk” to cash in on writer & director Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming “Dunkirk.” Typically, Asylum cranks out knock-off movies that exploit bigger studio releases.  Although “Operation: Dunkirk” is routine and often unrealistic, director Nick Lyon’s World War II thriller amounts to a better-than-average Asylum release.

FILM REVIEW OF ''VALKYRIE'' (2008)

The new Tom Cruise movie "Valkyrie," a dutiful but dreary reenactment of the 20th July 1944 Hitler bomb plot is no blast. Clocking in at a tedious two hours, this military procedural potboiler about the last of 15 flawed efforts to assassinate Adolf Hitler displays immaculate production values and a first-class cast. Nevertheless, "Superman Returns" director Bryan Singer serves up no thrills or chills. Further, "Valkyrie" provides no surprises or suspense, primarily because we know already that the pusillanimous generals botched the bomb plot.

Mind you, "Valkyrie" isn't the first movie about the fateful events leading up to another bungled German Army High Command conspiracy to kill Hitler and salvage the Third Reich. The Germans themselves produced an award-winning, made-for-TV movie "Stauffenberg" about the Hitler bomb attempt in 2004. Previously, CBS-TV aired "The Plot to Kill Hitler" with "Midnight Express" star Brad Davis playing Colonel von Stauffenberg in 1990. The bomb plot played a peripheral role in the Richard Burton World War II film "Breakthrough" (1978) with Robert Mitchum. The classic Peter O'Toole World War II thriller "The Night of the Generals" (1967) contained a subplot about von Stauffenberg's fiasco. Earlier, back in 1955, West German filmmakers unveiled the first theatrical version of the same events entitled "The Plot to Assassinate Hitler" with Wolfgang Priess starring as von Stauffenberg. Even if World War II film fanatics haven't heard of Priess, they have seen him in several W.W. II films, notably "The Longest Day," "A Bridge Too Far," "Raid on Rommel," and "Von Ryan's Express."

"Valkyrie" opens in Tunisia, North Africa 1943, with the German Army's 10th Panzer Division in the desert. Colonel von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) writes in his diary about his determination to kill Hitler and save lives. Later, he speaks with a Wehrmacht officer general who resembles Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, but this officer (Bernard Hill of "Titanic") clearly isn't the legendary Desert Fox. Moments later, British fighter planes swoop down to strafe and bomb the Germans. Explosions kill the Rommel looking general while von Stauffenberg loses his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Miscast as he is, Tom Cruise earns some credit for playing a radically different type of hero than he usually plays. However, the top-notch British and German actors who surround him blow him off the screen with their heavyweight performances. Terence Stamp, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, and even comedian Eddie Izzard upstage him at every turn.

After von Stauffenberg recovers from his wounds, he joins the general staff of General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy of "Underworld") and fellow conspirators Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh of "Henry V") and General Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp of "Yes Man") tap him to devise a better plan to kill Hitler. Ironically, von Stauffenberg concocts a new plan when he is reunited with his family on holiday. His children spin a copy of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" on their turntable. Allied bombers break up the reunion and the needle skips off the 78 RPM record. As he huddles in an air raid shelter, von Stauffenberg hears the tone arm skip back to play the Wagner opera and his eyes glitter. The generals approve of von Stauffenberg's plan to mobilize Hitler's reserve army--codenamed 'Valkyrie'--to help them take control of the Third Reich after they have killed the dastardly dictator. Our hero sets about the task of recruiting more members for the conspiracy and devising an explosive charge that will kill Hitler. Unfortunately, von Stauffenberg begins to see why all previous assassinate attempts failed. The political and military titans of the conspiracy lack conviction and quarrel about petty details. The indecision on the part of these conspirators and von Stauffenberg's own crusade to kill the little corporal seal their doom and safeguard Hitler.

Technically, while "Valkyrie" is correct in every respect with regard to history, Singer and writers Christopher McQuarrie of "The Usual Suspects" and newcomer Nathan Alexander have made a thriller than generates monotony more often than momentum. "Valkyrie" plays out in rooms and on roads. We watch German officers get out of either planes or cars, march into buildings, enter rooms, and talk, talk, talk. Afterward, we watch these same officers exit rooms, walk out of buildings, get into either cars or planes, and head off to other interiors where they babble some more. Incredibly, there are only two quotable lines in the entire movie! Singer and company provide a few scenes between our hero and his wife, but each lacks intimacy because they are either disrupted by a bombing raid or music drowns out their dialogue.

Worse, Adolf Hitler (David Bamber of "The Bourne Identity") spends most of his time on screen puttering about in a daze. Why would any filmmaker trot out the most maniacal villain in 20th century history and reduce him to a simpering sad sack? Indeed, "Valkyrie" arouses more sympathy for Hitler than the people who proved themselves too incompetent to eliminate him. Ultimately, "Valkyrie" isn't so much a tragedy of errors as it is a humdrum movie about a conspiracy of well-meaning imbeciles who wanted to strike a bargain with the Allies before the Allied armies trampled the Fatherland. Anybody who knows their history knows about the newsreel footage of der Fuehrer stomping happily about after the debacle of the bomb attempt. Hitler is never shown performing this shtick.

Suffice to say, avoid "Valkyrie!"