Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Valkyrie (2008) -vs- The Usual Suspects (1994)

Who Do You Trust?

The Smackdown.  All kinds of films that want to be considered for an Oscar just got dumped in theaters in a post-Christmas frenzy. Some of them won't even be out in wide-release for weeks but need to get even some limited screen-time in Los Angeles or New York to qualify. So we've been served up alleged Catholic molestations... men aging backwards... a dog's life... and Nazis. In the last category, we've got Jews fighting Nazis in Russia, Nazis sleeping with teenage boys after the war, and -- for the ultimate Smackdown -- Nazis versus Nazis. That would be Bryan Singer's newest film, Valkyrie, which explores the most ambitious and almost successful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The film reunites Singer with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie from The Usual Suspects and lets him return to the dramatic genre where he started his career.  So today, we put Bryan Singer circa 1994 up against Bryan Singer circa 2008 and this showdown, unlike Valkyrie, is one whose ending is not known...

The Challenger.  Valkyrie is a return to form in many ways for Singer.  The film explores the failed assassination plot on Adolf Hitler, one that came dangerously and surprisingly close to actually succeeding if not for a certain flukes.  Tom Cruise stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an injured German soldier completely and utterly fed up with Hitler's ridiculous military ambitions.  Assembling a knock out class of some of Europe's finest actors, Singer crafts a straight-up historical heist tale that somehow manages to elicit suspense and tension despite everyone knowing the ending.  The film, expertly shot and directed, is a true testament to the art of historical filmmaking and how the known can still be suspenseful.

Black Book (2007) -vs- Europa, Europa (1990)

Editor's Note:  A lot of people are probably thinking about Nazis lately, given that Tom Cruise's "Valkyrie," Daniel Craig's "Defiance," and Kate Winslet's "The Reader" are all in release. Here's an earlier Smackdown of two foreign films that tackle Nazism from the inside-out.

Love in the Time of Fascism

The Smackdown. It's the ultimate identity crisis. You have to pretend to be a part of a group that wants to kill everybody in the group you're really in.  That's the jeopardy that two foreign language films (both supposedly based on true stories) place their lead characters in.  Both "Black Book" and "Europa, Europa" put Jewish characters in the agonizing peril of having to pass as Nazis in order to stay alive during World War II. Each one wants to raise the question about what's acceptable behavior in order to survive and what a person is willing to risk in order to strike back at a hated enemy. If you start to act like them, do you run the risk of becoming the thing you hate the most? 

The Challenger. Director Paul Verhoeven has gone back to his roots with this World War II film set in occupied Holland. He started there a quarter of a century ago with "Soldier of Orange" but took a long strange detour with films like "Total Recall," "Basic Instinct" and, yes, "Showgirls." He's got plenty of sex and violence in this tale about Rachel Stein, a young Jewish woman who survives the holocaust by adapting whenever and however necessary. She's played by the phenomenal Dutch actress Carice van Houten. After losing her family from a betrayal that leads to their death by machine gun fire, she joins the Resistance and finds her most important work to be the seduction of the head of the Gestapo in The Hauge, a sensitive Nazi-type named Ludwig Mantze. He's plahyed by my favorite German actor, Sebastian Koch, who stole the show in last year's "The Lives of Others."

Quantum of Solace (2008) -vs- Casino Royale (2006)

The Smackdown.  It's the longest running movie franchise in the history of the world.  In total, it has grossed billions worldwide, surpassing perhaps the gross domestic product of many small nations.  In 1964, James Bond skulked from the hard-boiled cynicism of Ian Fleming's novels onto the Silver Screen, introducing the world to their Favorite Super Spy.  Yet time was unkind to the Bond franchise, and the films descended into stale parodies of themselves, straying further from not only Sean Connery's iconic debut but also the fascinating, amoral spy of Fleming's novels.  Then came "Casino Royale" and Daniel Craig.  With Daniel Craig, Bond found his relevance again, and his heart.  Today, facing high expectations in the wake of "Casino Royale", "Quantum of Solace" has stirred up violent controversy as to its quality against "Casino Royale."  Today, we let the newest Bond go up against the last Bond, trying to put what has become something of a media field day to rest.

The Challenger.  "Quantum of Solace" arrives under the direction of Mark Forster, scripted by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Paul Haggis.  The movie is a somber epilogue to "Casino Royale", with a betrayed and bitter Bond viciously hunting the mysterious organization behind his former lover's demise. Bond is largely unforgiving, a force that is at times both brutal and surgical.  As he nears the organization (named Quantum), Bond finds himself in the middle of a South American coup de tat, underscored by an oddly realistic attempt to horde the world's water supply.  Incorporating elegance and taste with the typical tropes of Bond, "Quantum of Solace" is a lean--if somewhat too short--depiction of a Bond that finds a cold place for Double-O Seven in the modern world.

Casino Royale (2006) -vs- On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

The Smackdown.  Nobody ever forgets their first time.  And get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about James Bond and what it takes for an actor to play him on an initial outing.

James Bond has a long franchise of adaptations, interpretations, and revitalizations spanning nearly fifty years.  With such a lineage, it's only natural that there'll be some intra-family rivalry.  Today we put up two highly-touted revampings designed to help Bond fans overcome two of the most popular actors to depict James Bond: Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. 

On Her Majesty's Secret Service attempted to co-opt the loyalty of Bond fans by paying respect to Ian Fleming's original stories beyond just their titles, and of course sliding in newcomer George Lazenby as Bond... James Bond.  Casino Royale did much the same, using an orthodox choice in Daniel Craig to return to source material while retooling Bond for Jason Bourne-style audiences.  While Daniel Craig's Bond is certainly meaner and tougher, can this blond-haired Bond match up against the man better known as the post-Connery Bond?  Which one makes good on their promise to decrypt Double-O Seven and break territory ignored by previous Bond formulas?

The Challenger.  Fans felt there'd be no dying another day for the Bond franchise after Pierce Brosnan's last Bond outing in the overwrought and cheesy Die Another Day.  Faced with serious spy thrillers like Alias and The Bourne Identity, producers scrambled back to Ian Fleming and his first Bond novel, "Casino Royale." Daniel Craig, "the new guy," sparked hell among fans for his demeanor, blond-hair, and overall scruffy appearance.  Introducing the legendary spy at the beginning of his career, Casino Royale pits a cocky and inexperienced Bond against the poker-playing banker of the world's terrorists, Le Chiffre.  Although adding entire sequences and ideas absent in Fleming's novel, the film stays loyal to the novel in that Bond learns a harsh lesson from too easily trusting, and loving, a beautiful colleague in this high-stakes thriller.

Body of Lies (2008) -vs- Blood Diamond (2006)

Leo as a Man of Action

The Smackdown.  Given his humble beginnings as a kid doing TV sitcoms like "Growing Pains," it's extraordinary to be writing about two huge-budget films where Leonardo DiCaprio is an action hero, but that's where we are.  Nobody thought the economy would be in the shape it is, either, so life is full of surprises.  In any case, both the Middle-East flavored "Body of Lies" and the Sierra Leone-based drama "Blood Diamond" are different kinds of thrillers, uniquely suited to DiCaprio's screen presence.  They're both thoughtful, smart films where the main character is a conflicted guy who finds himself in the middle of a situation that requires all his skills just to stay alive, let alone to figure out how to be a good guy or if he even wants to.  DiCaprio against DiCaprio in a rumble where bullets fly and f-bombs drop.

The Challenger.  "Body of Lies" is the latest film from super-director Ridley Scott who lately seems to be fascinated by the Middle East and our role in it.  In this film, DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative with a bullet (as in, rising star) who's trying to track down a bin Laden-type named al-Saleem.  He's out there in the field nearly getting killed on a daily basis while Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) lives a suburban life back in America where he, literally, phones it in to Ferris out in the field. The theme of the film seems to be deception: how you can let the deception that is part of your job bleed into your life, and that, ultimately, nobody is innocent.  The screenplay was written by William Monahan ("The Departed") working from a book written by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.