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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply outstanding, 12 Jun 2009
As an expert on Nazi Germany, having studied the subject for over 35 years, having grown to understand its causes and motivations and how these lead to an appalling - yet well stated intent - to massacre and conquer, this film simply captivates and overwhelms. I had heard a great deal of criticism levelled at Tom Cruise for attempting to play a 6ft 2 Colonel who is regarded as the chief hero of the German resistance.
However, with one tiny inaccuracy at the start of the film, it proceeded in its relentless journey to impress time after time, with its locations, infinitesimal attention to detail which can only be described as a triumph of research and its utterly moving telling of a story doomed to fail from the day it was conceived.
If ever there was a tale about how not to carry out a military coup this is it. Endless good intentions utterly ruined by a total failure of communications.
I found the scene at The Berghof, when Stauffenberg has to get Hitler to sign the Walkure amendment to enable the plan to take shape, simply unbearable in its tension. Every member of the senior German government was instantly recognisable to me without any names being used and most of them not speaking, they were that superbly portrayed and chosen. The exceptional detail of the Berghof layout was just awe-inspiring.
The aircraft scene (which there is an interesting documentary about on the disc) is again outstanding, this is exactly how Hitler travelled. Even the way everyone reluctantly puts out their cigarettes (Hitler loathed smoking)as he arrives. The focus on a mosquito biting a guard - emphasising the sultry summer heat and mosquito infested Rastenburg site was genius. You didn't have to do it, but in doing so, for detail freaks like me, this was extraordinary.
The acting was outstanding, simple as that. I may not get an Oscar or any awards, but I regard this film as one of the finest historical recreations ever made.
To all involved thank you. I and several others were in floods of tears at the end when I saw this twice at the cinema, and already three times on Blu-Ray. Never mind the digital copy that sits on my iPhone so I can bore others to death at will.
I cannot say anything bad about this film. It was a risk to make it, asking for massive criticism and yet its sensitivity, detail and accuracy, especially using (even if unintentionally in one case) the actual locations where possible, just made it as near perfect as can be reasonable 65 years past the event.
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59 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taut and compact thriller - very much a movie rather than a historical study, 8 Mar 2009
This review is from: Valkyrie [DVD] [2008] (DVD)
Tom Cruise stars as Colonel Von Staffenberg in this semi-factual account of the most notorious of all wartime plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler and end WWII. Cruise portrays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a wealthy aristocrat who lost an eye and a hand while fighting for Germany during World War II. Stauffenberg became the key man in a large-scale conspiracy that set out to assassinate the Nazi leader and seize control of the German government. The film's main event is the assassination attempt that took place on July 20, 1944, at the Wolf's Lair; Hitler's Eastern Front military headquarters located in what is now Poland. The film examines the preparation for the assassination, its implementation and the attempted coup that followed. The interest isn't in the final results -- it's the details of what happens along the way that matter.
Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) directs with his trademark economical flair; there is no fat on this movie and the predominantly British cast all acquit themselves well. Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Cranham, Terence Stamp and the ubiquitous Bill Nighy are just some of the accomplished cast, which also features comedian Eddie Izzard in an unusual but inspired piece of casting. The action is sparing but consequently the film's intensity is maintained throughout, as the band of disillusioned conspirators gradually move towards their goal.
Much has been made of Cruise's willingness to participate in this relatively low-key project, and of the director's decision that the actor were to speak in their own accents during the movie. However, I didn't feel that the latter detracted from the power of the performances nor did Cruise seem out of place as the mutilated and enigmatic Staffenburg; in my humble opinion. I was also disturbed but intrigued by the film's historical aspects, as I had little knowledge of the Staffenburg plot or any of its participants prior to watching this film. Critical reception seems to have been mixed, but all I can say is that I would recommend this as an edgy historical thriller, with a decent cast and high production values.
DVD extras include The Valkyrie Legacy', a fairly lengthy documentary from The History Channel. Historians and spokesmen for the German Resistance Memorial Centre talk about the events dramatized in the film. we even hear from two of Von Stauffenberg's children, one of whom was born in a concentration camp.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last, a good Tom Cruise film, 14 April 2010
This review is from: Valkyrie [DVD] [2008] (DVD)
At last, a good Tom Cruise film. I have always been interested in the Von Stauffenberg story about the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and at last here is the story presented properly. I particularly like the two factual films accompanying the main feature, they show how accurate the Valkyrie film is, and how the actors involved resembled the real officers. Although Hitler was not killed in the attempt he was seriously injured, and not enough was made of this in the film. Altogether a fine film and story showing that not all German officers were fanatical Nazis, and realized that their leader was seriously flawed. Recommended viewing.
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