Valkyrie

Singer back to being a genius. I don't even know why I was afraid of a lack of humanity or a cold approach. The tension comes from just a glance at the army or a fleeting shot of Hitler's back of the head. It is precisely the authenticity and documentary veracity that give the final catharsis the stamp of the purest emotions. (26/02/2009)

I avoided the film for a long time, but in the end it is a solid suspenseful spy-war film about the overthrow of Hitler. Tom Cruise is excellent in the lead role and even though I couldn't get into the film for the first half hour, once Operation Valkyrie started I didn't even flinch. (07/05/2019)

Singer did a good deal of work on this and everything is in the right place. He literally delights in the authenticity of the setting and the event. Cruise’s acting is good and his performance as Colonel von Stauffenberg will win you over. Simply because of what a good guy he was. It was excruciating knowing how his assassination attempt worked out. (30/04/2009)

It couldn't have been filmed better (probably). This thought popped into my head during the closing credits. Singer has turned a theoretical weakness (the viewer knows how it will turn out) into a major strength and subordinated everything to a perfectly refined style. Complaining about a certain coldness in a film that takes place in a setting of perfectly cut uniforms and precise military hierarchy is like accusing romantic films of moving you. Cruise is whipped to the max in the company of the (mostly British) acting elite, with Singer taming his ego enough to make his character serve the story as well, not the other way around. I’m tempted to give it full stars for the tense quarter of an hour that immediately follows the explosion. But I'll save the last star for when the DVD version is at least 20-30 minutes longer, which will fix the minor mistakes (I’d like to see stronger motivations for some of the characters). 4 ½, knowing that this is one of the strongest cinema experiences of the year. Edit: After seeing it a second time, I send all the criticisms to hell and give the film the full thumbs up it deserves. (10/02/2009)

Valkyrie is a film that was made thanks to the desire, money, and determination of Tom Cruise, who played the main role. I must admit that I didn't believe in the project even after seeing the trailers, and I was afraid of the usual distortion of historical events by Hollywood. To my surprise, Valkyrie is a sober, perhaps too sober, film that simplifies (as was necessary) complex motivations and events, but remains faithful to historical events. Tom Cruise portrayed his character somewhat idealistically, 2-3 dialogues are weak, and a drop of pathos is evident in 2-3 scenes, but I was spared the heart-wrenching scenes of farewells with family and condemned prisoners that I expected. I didn't give it a fifth star because the events surrounding the coup are well-known to history enthusiasts, and the film has nothing surprising in that regard. Kenneth Branagh's performance as General Tresckow deserves mention. Singer's direction is professional, and we get to enjoy the tension in manipulating detonators or briefcases filled with explosives. Just a note: Hitler's death could indeed have shortened the war by several months, but the prospects for the coup plotters were minimal; they simply did not have enough support, and once the circumstances of Hitler's assassination became known, they would undoubtedly have been eliminated. The conspirators, after all, never formed a compact group; there were moderate nationalists as well as liberals, and they struggled to find common ground. Their ideas, even concerning the allies, were naive; they expected to negotiate a ceasefire and an honorable peace, which in their minds included a number of territorial gains from the ongoing war. However, after the successful invasion of Normandy and the crushing of the German army in Belarus, the Allies no longer considered anything other than unconditional surrender. Overall impression: 80%. By the way, not only I but also major American studios, did not believe in the film, expecting that the artistic reconstruction of events that did not directly affect American involvement in World War II would fail to resonate with audiences. (28/12/2009)