Valkyrie

Excellent film account of the last attempt to kill Hitler. I've read of the reports before, and have seen some accounts of the attempts in films dealing with other aspects of WWII. This film is as accurate as is possible. There are some aspects which are not as they occurred in real life, at least according to many articles and comments and historical accounts of the entire plot. However, that is not terribly important as this film shows how brave the many men and women were in wishing to rid the world of a madman. In many respects, the chaos which ensued on that day in July of 1944, actually led to the Nazi regime unravelling bit by bit from within due to very irrational decisions of how to end the war with no chance of winning. The Nazis were hell-bent on winning or taking everyone down with them. Unfortunately, they chose the latter and many more innocent lives were lost with increased Allied bombing, the ever-advancing Allied armies on all fronts, and the complete destruction of the navy which was so much a part of Hitler's plan to conquer the world.It is sad to know about how the current German govt. wished to not have Tom Cruise play a central part in this film. Their insistence to reject Scientology and claim it to be a cult is admirable and I don't disagree with them, but when all is said and done, Tom Cruise did a remarkable job in his role, as he is quite a fine actor and took this role very seriously to the point where I believe it may be his best effort. I have no argument with either side on this issue and look at the film as a very good account of how Germany tried to rid the world of the worst madman in recorded history.It is quite a testament to von Stauffenberg that he is still honored to this day. He was a remarkable man who sacrificed his life for an incredibly important cause. It failed due to hesitations and minor mistakes which snow-balled very quickly as Hitler was not assassinated. von Stauffenberg was a hero if anyone can ever be called such. His family lived through the rest of the war and went on to live very normal lives, if that is possible for the relatives of a very principled man who died trying to save the world from Hitler's holocaust which ended 9 months later.Lots of people wonder what would have occurred if von Stauffenberg and his cohorts had been successful. That's not what occurred, and to guess is quite silly, but we know for sure that many tens or hundreds of thousands of people would not have lost their lives, from the quest of the Nazis to fight to the last man. All else is speculation.

Valkyrie was based upon the 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It starred Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg who set the bomb in Hitler’s headquarters.The story revolves around a group of mostly German army officers who are tired of the war and Hitler’s rule and want to eliminate the dictator. They recruit Stauffenberg to their cause and attempt to kill Hitler and stage a coup. The first part of the film focuses upon the plotting, while the second is on the actual attempt. The tension starts with the conspirators having to work around Hitler to get their plan in motion and only grows once the bomb goes off.The one drawback is that there is not much time spent on why the plotters wanted to get rid of Hitler. Stauffenberg writes a letter at the start about his own opinion, and there’s a slight discussion about it with the schemers, but I guess the idea is the audience already thinks Hitler is bad so they didn’t have to really go into the argument for killing him.One of the strongpoints of Valkyrie is that it shows how entrenched Nazism was amongst the German army. The Nazis were losing in both the west and east at that point in the war, but the majority of the population and military still believed in Hitler.C

I’d heard the name Valkyrie over the years, but it was not until my PhD work that I’d learned much about what it really was: an attempt by insiders on the life of Hitler. I had a professor at the time who had produced and written (and appeared in) a film about it. So when I saw that Tom Cruise (and a cast of incredibly talented men) had done Valkyrie, I had to watch. It was such a powerful film I grabbed it when Amazon had a good deal on their streaming version. Valkyrie is the story of a group of insiders - some closest to Hitler and many who had direct access to him - who came together to try and assonate the dictator and save Germany and the world. Risking their lives they put together a fairly large group of co-conspirators who would sneak a bomb into a meeting with Hitler and kill him, then take over the leadership and bring an end to a horrific part of history. Sadly their efforts fail, but throughout Valkyrie one waits with anticipation, hoping... This well done script is finely acted, directed, and filmed. It is a well done historic piece and interesting to watch.

I knew the history and exactly how it turned out, but this film still kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Tom Cruise's performance as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg carries the film with an excellent supporting cast and outstanding production values. To the best of my knowledge, the film is historically accurate in all the major details. One point that came out in the film played only a minor role in the development of the events, but it is a significant history lesson: Some of von Stauffenberg's advisors said that Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler was the important target; there was no point in killing Hitler unless they got Himmler, too. Based on my reading of history, I agree with them. It appears that Himmler was the true author of Hitler's madness. But, alas, von Stauffenberg was blindly focused on the poster boy for the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler.If there is a moral lesson to be learned from this story, it must be that if you find yourself supporting a leaders who turn out to be a psychopathic madmen whose decisions are destroying your country, you need to take action long before you are forced to attempt desperate schemes to get rid of them. And don't overlook the source of the disease while you are treating the symptoms. Don't be blinded by the superstar. That lesson is just as applicable in 2015 as it was in 1944.

When I first saw this war thriller ten years ago it struck me as being yet another Tom Cruise action film, enjoy it for what it is not for what it pretends to try to be.Watching again it comes over as a much more thoughtful film with certain plot threads that are more compelling than I'd first seen which certainly alters my view of the film now. I'm not denying that some liberties have been taken with actual events, as the film is based on the real plot to assassinate Herr Hitler, but the whole plot is handled well and the actors have been chosen very cleverly to resemble the real protagonists around that plot. From what I have read since, the characterizations of those German officers is also spot on.A much more thoughtful production with Cruise NOT playing an action hero and if you can accept that he CAN act this is an extremely entertaining and well structured film.A plethora of British actors including Branagh, Wilkinson, Stamp, Izzard, Nighy and a smattering of European class actors including Carice Van Houten and Thomas Kretschmann to give an authentic feel of a German based tale. It works for me and I was reminded of 'Night Of The Generals' which also consisted of mainly British actors but came over as a very European film ---- not sure that this came over quite the same way but the production values are very high as you would expect from a Cruise film.Like Arnie, producers will put big bucks into anything made with Cruise in it to get the most out of him and this is a good example. That's how I see most films that include certain big stars who may have limitations with their acting abilities, in my view that's been the case from the year zero.English subtitles for the hearing impaired, several audio commentaries and bonus features.

Overall a good film based on the true story of how a group of German military officials plotted to assassinate Hitler. Well made, fairly suspenseful. Good performances overall though Tom Cruise in the lead was for me a distraction - you feel that you are watching er, Tom Cruise. Similarly, though to a lesser extent, although Eddie Izzard plays a perfectly acceptable part, you almost expect him to crack a joke. The rest of the cast are good, in particular Tom Wilkinson. Having a considerable interest in the war and Nazi Germany, I found it enjoyable viewing even though it is of course a dramatised account.

The film itself is a very good film, after watching the main feature take the time to watch the last on the list of the special features, it tells the back feature of the people in the conspiresy and how their was several attempts to kill Adolf Hitler, because of the atrocities committed by the nazi's. There where thousands of Germans living themselves in horror at at what the Nazi's were doing.

For anyone not aware of the Valkyrie plot and it's objectives and the outcome I'd particularly recommend this film.I did know about the plot but I think I've learnt a bit more; I certainly didn't realise there were as many as 15 attempts to assassinate Hitler by Germans.Even though I had a fair idea what was going to happen I felt the film maintained an element of suspense from beginning to end. Who was going to support the plot and who was going to remain loyal to the Third Reich? These decisions were often made at the very last moment and ultimately tipped the balance.The film served to show how bureaucratic and inflexible the German chain of command was. Everything had to go through Berlin and the plotters very cleverly used the system to mobilise the reserve army in support.I'm not usually a great fan of Tom Cruise but the only fault I could find with his performance was that he was inclined to whisper his lines and I couldn't always hear what he was saying. I wasn't overly impressed with David Bamber as Adolf Hitler but in this instance Hitler was only a peripheral character so it didn't really matter.You have nothing to lose by giving this film a try.

Tom cruise at his best!I love the mission Impossible films and Tom Cruise is always great to watch, but this is the real thing!It's so very refreshing to see him play a very *human* character: vulnerable, imperfect and all and all the better for it! Understated yet so powerful and brilliant. More of this! less Hollywood artifice and more punctual challenging realism.There is still a vital life lesson to be learnt here with films like this: a severe warning to humanity for those that have the ears to listen.