I saw the trailer for VALKYRIE this week on the big screen for the first time and I have to say, it just heightens my previous fears that Tom Cruise is so not right for this World War II picture. He is bringing his intense acting gig, which of course we expect from him and he's perfected it down the years but in this environment it makes him look camp and ridiculous. Maybe it's that damn eye patch, the stiffness of his line delivery, the decision not to use an accent or the uniform. I don't know what it is but none of Cruise works in this film. He brings far too much attention to himself. It's a Tom Cruise vehicle, that shouldn't be a Tom Cruise vehicle. He is the odd American coming to a fully packed dinner of established and distinguished Brits but the sad thing is, he is suppose to be the German. It's an awful casting and career choice quite frankly and that's coming from a huge Cruise fan. I think we have become more sophisticated with our World War II pictures in this decade to allow Hollywood to get away with productions like this. We want to see actors talking in their characters own accent and language, when classic movies like DOWNFALL exist I really don't think Hollywood has any excuse not to hire actors who are either willing to learn another language or to actually hire German actors in the first place for the roles of Germans. For some reason that logic doesn't work in Tinseltown. Ah yes, money you say. Who wants to see a German play a German when you can have Tom Cruise do it? It's not like there isn't a load of really great German actors out there right now, many of which Quentin Tarantino has plucked up for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. They are everywhere and putting in some fantastically solid work time and time again. After last year's massive failure LIONS FOR LAMBS, another dissapointing Cruise led vehicle is not going to be good for his failing career. A short dance in TROPIC THUNDER isn't enough for the Cruise-meister to stop this quick descent into obscurity. Some figures are estimating the budget for VALKYRIE to have exceeded $100 million which I can tell you right now, it won't come anywhere near to reclaiming. As the New York Times point out, at 46... Cruise as a tentpole lead is becoming something of a tired gig and his studio United Artists and him as an actor would look like box office poison if this fails to make it's money back. Now I've said what Cruise needs to do. I've said it for well over a year now, to win back the hearts of the public he needs to do a romantic comedy. The public perception of Cruise because of his personal religious affiliations and home life have never been lower, he needs to win us back by making himself likelable, funny and relatable. Relatable probably being key. He should have called Judd Apatow a year ago and said "write something for me" and surround himself closely with the Seth Rogen/Paul Rudd crowd and see what comes of it. Going ahead with a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IV, as much fun as that would be, would just see Cruise back in the same place he was in two years ago. And the same goes for the thrillers THE TOURIST (which looks favourite to be his next movie, co-starring Charlize Theron) and EDWIN A. SALT (which was given to Angelina Jolie when Paramount were worried over Cruise's marketability), these star vehicles won't help. We are burnt out on seeing Cruise save the world. Nothing gets people back on your side quite like a relaxing performance in a romantic comedy. Give Judd a call, or hell, I'm sure Cameron Crowe would love to work with you again. Boy do I miss the Cruise of JERRY MAGUIRE, such a shame there isn't many out there who can use Cruise as well as Crowe can.
