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Movies / On DVD / Valkyrie
Valkyrie

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Valkyrie (2008)

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Reviews Counted:183

Fresh:111

Rotten:72

Average Rating:6/10

Consensus: Given the subject matter, Valkyrie could have been an outstanding historical thriller, but settles for being a mildly entertaining, but disposable yarn.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for violence and brief strong language.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:23-01-2009

Synopsis: Based on a the true story of cadre of Nazi officers who grew to oppose Hitler's murderous pursuits and made several attempts to kill him in the late stages of WWII, VALKYRIE features a top-flight... Based on a the true story of cadre of Nazi officers who grew to oppose Hitler's murderous pursuits and made several attempts to kill him in the late stages of WWII, VALKYRIE features a top-flight cast, with drama and suspense in equal measure. The film is a stylistic departure for director Bryan Singer (X-MEN, X2) and star Tom Cruise, with a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Nathan Alexander that is constructed like a heist film, with a team of like-minded men coming together for a common purpose and facing incredible odds. It is 1943, and though he has come to be disgusted by Hitler's campaign of evil, Count Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) has risen to the level of lieutenant colonel in the German army. Convinced that Hitler must die, Von Stauffenberg requests a transfer to Tunisia, where he loses his left eye and right hand during an Allied air raid. Falling in with a group of similarly disillusioned officers including Major General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson), and Colonel General Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), Stauffenberg is at the center of several attempts on Der Fuhrer's life, culminating in a bombing that kills a handful of his officers and leaves Hitler only slightly injured. Though advance photos of Cruise in Nazi uniform brought VALKYRIE negative publicity, his restrained performance is at the heart of this well-crafted, thinking person's action movie. He is bolstered by an incredible British cast including Branagh, Stamp, and Wilkinson, and by the film's dazzling art direction. Though it's a story to which viewers should already know the ending, Singer still creates ample suspense. The result is a taut and effective historical thriller. [More]

Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp

Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Izzard, Kevin McNally, Carice Van Houten

Director: Bryan Singer

Director: Bryan Singer
Screenwriter: Christopher McQuarrie, Nathan Alexander
Producer: Christopher McQuarrie, Gilbert Adler
Composer: John Ottman
Studio: MGM

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Reviews for Valkyrie

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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The subject demands to be made as a documentary or in a form more imaginative than a linear narrative.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
01/28/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Valkyrie isn’t a great war movie, but within its own limited ambitions, it is enjoyable and never dull.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
01/28/09
Cosmo Landesman
Cosmo Landesman
Sunday Times (UK)

A film more concerned with ‘how’ than ‘why’ or ‘who’, Valkyrie would have benefited from more scrutiny and complexity. Still, once the bomb goes off, the thrills come in spades.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/23/09
Dan Jolin
Dan Jolin
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As old-fashioned historical escapism goes, this is solid, compelling stuff.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/23/09
Tom Huddlestone
Tom Huddlestone
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Valkyrie's technique is admirable but it misses the mark emotionally.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment 3 Comments
01/23/09
Matthew De Abaitua
Matthew De Abaitua
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Singer makes a noble and romantic fist of this terrific story but it feels spookily like a well-oiled Hollywood entertainment rather than a sensational chapter of history.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment 1 Comment
01/23/09
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Bryan Singer has put together a fairly workable, old-fashioned second world war movie.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment 1 Comment
01/23/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is no The Day of the Jackal. It’s functional. Respectful rather than inspired. It won’t damage Cruise’s reputation, but it won’t enhance it in any degree either.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment 3 Comments
01/23/09
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Valkyrie may not be awards bait but it is a solid, at times gripping, thriller that wrings every ounce of drama out of what is, at heart, a pulsating tale of the courage and idealism of some undone by the cowardice and politics of others.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
01/23/09
Matt Bochenski
Matt Bochenski
Little White Lies

Expect thrills, not a revolution.

Full Review Source: Digital Spy | comment 1 Comment
01/23/09
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
Digital Spy

Valkyrie is no action extravaganza. Yet despite having a rich seam of moral ambiguity to mine, the characterisation is no deeper than in Singer’s X-Men.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment 1 Comment
01/23/09
Elliott Noble
Elliott Noble
Sky Movies

There’s a whiff of pointlessness hanging over this whole affair. The fact that Valkyrie is not the thriller the trailer promises is treason against the talent.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment 1 Comment
01/23/09
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Total Film

Valkyrie it’s a good film with more than enough there to keep your attention and for you to have come away feeling satisfied and informed.

Full Review Source: Heart 106.2 | comment Comment
01/23/09
Simon Thompson
Simon Thompson
Heart 106.2

I was never bored, and the period detail is lovingly observed; but there is a sense of an opportunity missed.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

It is no classic but it is stylish, absorbing and wonderfully put together.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
01/23/09
Mark Adams
Mark Adams
Daily Mirror [UK]

The film survives some dodgy dialogue because of a strong supporting cast.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
01/23/09
Sun Online

Valkyrie seems more like history by Nintendo: a slickly devised exercise in action drama whose entire research and development budget went into the external details of the plot, leaving none for the inner realism of its participants.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
01/23/09
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

It feels no more authentic than Stauffenberg's glass eyeball.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
01/23/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

In the end, despite him playing someone with a missing eye, it’s a vanity project for Cruise – a heavyweight historical drama to put him back on the map, but one that only sees him more lost.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
01/23/09
Stuart McGurk
Stuart McGurk
thelondonpaper

The end result, however, is a skewed picture that manages to promote Hollywood-style derring-do and make fascism look more stylish and profound than it has done in years.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
01/23/09
Charlotte O'Sullivan
Charlotte O'Sullivan
This is London
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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Latest News for Valkyrie

April 02, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Bill Nighy
There can be few actors better suited to starring in a film about the golden age of British rock and roll than Bill Nighy. No wonder, then, that he's front and centre as part of... More...

January 10, 2009: New: Watch-First 5 Minutes of the Movie. Opens in new window
More...

January 03, 2009: James Agee Cinema Circle Honors Movies of Conscience and Consciousness: THE LAWSON: BEST ANTI-FASCIST FILM this year, is named after screenwriter John Howard Lawson, one of the Hollywood Ten: VALKYRIE Opens in new window
More...

January 03, 2009: James Agee Cinema Circle Honors Movies of Conscience and Consciousness: THE LAWSON: BEST ANTI-FASCIST FILM this year, is named after screenwriter John Howard Lawson, one of the Hollywood Ten: VALKYRIE Opens in new window
More...

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