Search - Valkyrie (Single-Disc Edition) on DVD

Peter C. from ROSEVILLE, MN
Reviewed on 8/3/2012...

This movie is rated 3.5 stars and for those of us who love history, especially the recent eras, this is your movie. It is the story of the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Based on true events it leads up to the final attempt, which almost succeeded, and tells the outcome and what happened afterward. Tom Cruise, in a different kind of role for him, plays Count von Stauffenberg, a colonel who has lost an eye and a hand in the war. He and other high-ranking German officers were disillusioned with Hitler, who had promised them victories and brought them only defeat. This movie has suspense and action as we see Stauffenberg riding to a meeting at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's headquarters on the Prussian front. Stauffenberg is carrying a briefcase with a bomb inside which he hopes will blow up the building and kill the madman that is leading them to destruction. Stauffenberg escapes--amazingly, he simply walks out of the conference room, something never done in Hitler's presence--and leaves the bomb beside the leg of the solid oak table. What saved Hitler was that another officer saw the briefcase and moved it out of Hitler's way.

It would be the last major assassination attempt on Hitler, and nine months later the war would be over, Hitler would be dead, and Stauffenberg, caught and executed by the SS and Gestapo, would be a hero. He still is.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Sandra W. from HAGERSTOWN, MD
Reviewed on 3/2/2011...

Despite the fact that I have no love for Tom Cruise, this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I read a lot about this one before and while it was being filmed. The accent problem of Cruise's in addition to his less than mediocre acting made this dreadful depiction of Claus von Stauffenberg's part in a plot to kill Hitler much less than it really was and von Stauffenberg much less of a figure than he was in real life.
Germany and the von Stauffenberg family were horrified that we would send Tom Cruise, a member of the Church of Scientology to Germany. Germany considers it a cult, totalitarian, exploitative and oppressive of the individual. As I read in one scathing critique, putting Tom Cruise in this role was like casting Judas as Jesus. Von Stauffenberg to this day is a hero in Germany and wreaths lie at the place where he was executed. The German government gave clear orders that nothing was to be filmed at the German Ministry, but it was. Instead of going to the government and appealing for permission, those handling this went through another channel and got permission elsewhere. This is a movie that never should have been made, and it barely made a profit. The picture cost $75 million to make and brought in $83 million at the box office. Not anywhere near a blockbuster.

If you watch the German subtitled movie "Downfall", the acting puts movies like Valkyrie to shame.

And by the way, Hitler was no dummy when it came to these assassination plots. When in rooms with groups of people, he tended to place himself near posts or poles or in places where he would have a better chance of survival if a bomb did go off. There was a barrier or something between him and an imagined or real bomb.

2 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Lewis P. (Turfseer) from NEW YORK, NY
Reviewed on 9/30/2010...

Better off as a "Made for TV" movie

**This review contains spoilers**

First off, I agree with those critics who found Tom Cruise utilizing an American accent while the other actors are all speaking in polished British accents, a big mistake. The film's verisimilitude is compromised quite a bit by Cruise's inability to convince us that he's truly Klaus von Stauffenberg, a sophisticated Army officer from an aristocratic German family.

That said, Valkyrie wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. It's basically a by-the-numbers recreation of one of the last plots to kill Hitler. While it lacks suspense (since the film's climax is a forgone conclusion) it does ably depict who the players were and how they concocted and carried out the failed assassination plot.

Valkyrie fails in the area of character development. We never get to know any of these characters as multi-dimensional human beings. Director Bryan Singer chose to tell his story purely as an action-adventure movie. On the plus side, the movie looks like it was filmed at some of the actual locations especially the scenes shot at the "Wolf's Lair" which looked pretty realistic.

The most objectionable aspect of 'Valkyrie' is elevating von Stauffenberg to hero status. While certainly he was courageous, he was no hero. Had Germany been winning the war, it's not likely there would have been as many assassination attempts as there were. I find it difficult to believe that most of the conspirators were primarily motivated by a moral imperative.

Daniel Goldhagen, in his brilliant book "Hitler's Willing Executioneers--Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust", informs that von Stauffenberg's own brother admitted that in the sphere of internal politics, "we had welcomed the basic tenets of National Socialism for the most part...The concept of race seemed sound and very promising." Their objection was merely that its "implementation was exaggerated and carried too far". Stauffenberg's uncle, Count Uxkull, stated, "We should hold on to the concept of race as far as possible."

According to Goldhagen, one of the central documents of the resistance to Hitler, prepared at the beginning of 1943 by leading Protestant theologians and university professors, explicitly condemned genocide but still argued that Jews caused trouble for Germany, that a "Jewish Problem" existed, that the Jews had harmed Germany and that a "solution" was necessary that would prevent future harm to Germans.

Valkyrie might have been better as a 'Made for TV' special. Instead of spending all that money about a minor footnote in the history of the Third Reich, wouldn't it have been better to focus on the complicity of the overwhelming majority of the German people who either enthusiastically embraced Hitler or looked the other way as he successfully carried out his nefarious plan of genocide and attempt at world domination?

3 of 6 member(s) found this review helpful.

Edgar R. (edgarshoe) from CALEXICO, CA
Reviewed on 8/17/2010...

I enjoyed this film and watched it twice already since I got the DVD and will be watching it again soon. Tom Cruise's role could easily have been portrayed by someone else. Great cast otherwise. Although I think Hitler could have been played by Branagh.

3 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.

Erica G. (erica07) from MURPHY, NC
Reviewed on 1/30/2010...

This was a good movie that could have been great. As a historical narrative Valkyrie is highly accurate. The conundrum is how can you have such attention to detail yet have British actors speaking perfect King's English portraying the German High Command. Why Singer choose to fade to English 5 minutes into the movie is beyond me. I'm perplexed why they just didn't leave the dialogue in German with English subtitles. It would have been far more authentic and captivating, akin to Das Boot.

3 of 6 member(s) found this review helpful.

IVOR I. from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 1/21/2010...

Bryan Singer seems to have built a broadcasting empire on the positives vibes and huge box-office receipts of 'The Usual Suspects.' Problem is, from 'Apt Pupil' on, Singer's work has been mediocre. This movie, based on the German generals' plot to assassinate Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, toward the end of World War II, is a tepid, boring procedural where character takes a back seat to 'factual' plot machinations. For those who love Tom Clancy 'novels' and movies like 'The Hunt for Red October,' this film is perfect. For those of us interested in why a bunch of Prussian aristocrats would finally betray their sworn allegiance to their Fuhrer and their country and destroy the lives of their family... Well, the answer is not in these character or the script. Actors like Tom Cruise, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard and this year's flavor-of-the-month among British character actors, Bill Nighy, are wasted here. After a stunning performance by Clarice Van Houten in one one of the best war movies ever, Paul Verhoeven's 'Black Box,' she is stuck here playing the trophy upper-class hausfrau of the plot leader, Klaas Von Stauffenburg(Cruise). Perhaps things are ruined by the simple fact that the audience already knows that the bomb plot failed. At any rate, there's no thrill watching a thriller that can not thrill. As my dad said of Michael Bay: "This guy couldn't direct a hard-on in a whore house." Bryan Singer: What happened to you?

3 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Jennifer T. from BRIDGEPORT, WV
Reviewed on 7/30/2009...

Awesome movie! I'm a big history buff, and LOVED this movie. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. Its not really an action movie, its more of a historic drama movie, which is great! Its extremely well played out, with some surprising twists, with stuff you had no idea was coming. And it really demonstrates to people how Hitler's followers weren't always 100% loyal. If you know who Hitler is, watch this movie. You don't need to be a history buff.

8 of 8 member(s) found this review helpful.