Valkyrie Details

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

[Highly rated reviewer]

superb......................................

This dvd is superb. Valkyrie is a historical thriller film starring Tom Cruise. The film is based on the 20th July plot of German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Tom Cruise portrays the leader of the plot, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

The film also stars: Kenneth Branagh as Major General Henning von Tresckow, Christian Berkel as Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, Bill Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht,

David Schofield as Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, Terrence Stamp as Colonel General Ludwig Beck, Kevin McNally as Carl Goerdeler, Carice van Houten as von Stauffenberg's wife, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, David Bamber as Adolf Hitler,

Eddie Izzard as Erich Fellgiebel, Tom Wilkinson as Friedrich Fromm, Thomas Kretschmann as Otto Ernst Remer, Gerhard Haase-Hindenberg as Hermann Göring, Anton Algrang as Albert Speer and Matthias Freihof as Heinrich Himmler.

During World War II, German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is severely wounded in Africa and returns home to Nazi Germany.

Stauffenberg helps conceive Operation Valkyrie, a plan approved by Adolf Hitler which, in order to manage turmoil within Germany, would implement a shadow government in the event of the Nazi Führer's death.

The Colonel eventually joins the German Resistance and becomes part of the July 20 plot, a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and execute Valkyrie in order to take control of the country and make peace with the Allies.

Stauffenberg finds himself taking on not only the responsibility of leading the coup, but also the task to assassinate Hitler himself.

Well worth watching.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Valkyrie

Tom Cruise very rarely tends to play a bad egg in his movies, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that while he may play a German WWII Colonel in Valkyrie, it would happen to be the one that attempted to kill Hitler, not help him. Cruise is von Staffenberg, an outspoken critic of the Furher, who helps to mastermind a plot to kill him.

While covering the events leading up to and after the attempt, and while solid all round, Valkyrie has a bit of a problem. It doesn’t particularly like to get in to the mindsets of these key players all that well, never really showing us what drove these conspirators to forge this dangerous plan. It plays rather like one of those National Geographic documentaries in certain places. Also the decision to forgo any sort of German sets the movie out of its context. Its all well and good Tom Wilkinson getting pissed off in his German uniform, in his German office, but if he still sounds like Gerald from the Full Monty your not really going to be as engaged. It’s the little things….

However, it does contain something of a stellar cast, although Kenneth Brannagh is rather underused. Bill Nighy is great as General Olbricht who can talk the talk but struggling to do the walk.and Eddie Izzard continues to pop up in an understated role as a German comms officer. Cruise is good, but unfortunately the film lacks a definitive cutting edge that could make it a true spectacle, preferring to wash over you then really get you involved. Even its ultimately downbeat ending doesn’t really evoke anything out of you, and considering the historical significance of the events, it is somewhat confusing that the events should be made in to a popcorn movie.

Still worth a watch and better then Singers Superman reboot.