Valkyrie [Blu-ray]

Valkyrie [Blu-ray]
by Bryan Singer

Valkyrie [Blu-ray]

List Price: ~~$39.99~~
Our Price: $10.94
You Save: $29.05 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.38 (click here)
Category: Blu-ray
See more DVD releases

Compare Prices for Valkyrie [Blu-ray]

Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Bill Nighy, Carice Van Houten, Kenneth Branagh, Thomas Kretschmann, Tom Cruise
Director: Bryan Singer
Brand: Sony
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Cantonese (Subtitled); Mandarin Chinese (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-05-19
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: United Artists

Movie Reviews of Valkyrie [Blu-ray]

Movie Review: When a man must act ... has to act ... needs to act ...
Summary: 5 Stars

Having recently been invited to a private screening of the film in Los Angeles, I thought I would step forward and offer a few thoughts about the latest Cruise historical drama that tries to recreate and encapsulate the WWII acclaimed German Hero: Claus Count Schenk von Stauffenberg.

I'm not a WWII historian, but I have been reading the history deftly for the bulk of my life and I'm fairly well versed in the facts that build the story of the film. I've taken the liberty to list a few of the numerous books that well-detail this account at the bottom of the review in case folks want to read up first. These are my suggestions of the books that I've read, but I'm sure there are some that others will say are better.

First, Tom Cruise seems to have set a strong stride in film this year delivering up a very watchable performance in Tropic Thunder that is already garnering nominations. Second, this film could quite possibly be the high-water mark of his entire career, if it can survive the usual bevy of hard-core anti-Cruise critics that typically pop out of the woodwork every time one of his films is about to hit the theatres. Cruise has recently stated that many times people have told him that the films he has often selected to star in, would be career suicide, but by his own admission he's still going strong and has no desire to duck out now.

The factual nature of this Valkyrie production, and there definitely have been others, is probably what will pull people in and keep people locked in their seats. Valkyrie has an absolute eerie feel to it that is just downright creepy, but mesmerizing all at once. The reason is probably due to the fact that the film was shot on location throughout Germany and virtually no expense was spared from the sets, the vehicles, the `red banners and flags' that adorn so many scenes that chills and a cold sweat may form on the back of your neck.

I'm not going to include spoilers about the story and plot of the film, even though the story is already well known, but Tom Cruise does a very good job at portraying a historical figure who was known for his deep sense of commitment, spiritualism and honor. Some criticism has already been lobbed like a grenade at Cruise, stating that because he is a Scientologist, that he cannot possibly convey the depth of Stauffenberg ... which is just some sad, sad nonsense. I'm no fan of Scientology and I'm only a luke-warm viewer, or rather participant to Tom Cruise, but if the man ever came across on screen as an actor in a film, rather than a self-obsessed personality, then this is the vehicle. I was completely convinced at what I was seeing and knowing that the bulk, probably greater than 95%, of what I was seeing was true.

The only fault I could find in this film was the actor playing Adolf Hitler. I guess I was hoping, or rather looking for a performance as disturbing as the one given recently by Bruno Ganz in Der Untergang (or The Downfall for the rest of us). Bruno Ganz is one of those rare actors that only come along once in a generation and who rarely seem to show up in enough vehicles to satisfy a viewer's curiosity. But this really wasn't about Hitler as much as it was about Stauffenberg.

I also was a little taken aback by the lack of Tom Cruise's German accent, which is a very minor thing, but one would've thought that trying to engage in such a `larger than life' character, something would've surfaced from him as an attempt to self-authenticate his role as a German Army Officer and a member of the fallen Aristocracy that part and parcel clearly became duped by the momentum that Adolf cranked forward like self-powered locomotive that would obviously, inevitably, and thankfully de-rail.

At several points during this film, I could hear Mario Savio's immortal words repeating in my head:

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

... ...

Operation Valkyrie: The Plot Against Hitler
Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography
Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich
The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution
To The Bitter End

...

Write your own review

More Valkyrie [Blu-ray] reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Summary of Valkyrie [Blu-ray]

Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/19/2009 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg13

Unpretentious and dramatically straightforward, Valkyrie is a suspenseful yet ennobling story about the last attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler prior to the end of World War II. Tom Cruise is effective if a little opaque as hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who channels his anger at Hitler's atrocities and mismanagement of the war by joining a secret organization bent on killing the Führer. When the outspoken Stauffenberg hits on the idea of linking Hitler's death with an official policy to safeguard Berlin during a government crisis--a contingency plan called "Valkyrie"--the group realizes a post-assassination coup could be covered by rapidly implementing the plan. History tells us the plot failed, of course, and Hitler killed himself months later. But that doesn't stop Cruise or director Bryan Singer from approaching the film as a thinking person's thriller, told from inside the conspirators' camp, where the outcome of their deeds were uncertain for several tense hours.

In the tradition of The Great Escape, Valkyrie is a war movie full of famous faces, including Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard. (The lesser-known David Bamber is very good as Hitler, hunched and cracking under pressure.) The film's gravity is offset a bit by the fun of seeing all these actors in a factually-based slice of history, and by a few, interesting stylistic flourishes on Singer's part, including the peculiarly unsettling image of a mosquito sizzled to death in close-up. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Valkyrie (Click for larger image)

Similar DVD Movies

Body of Lies
Release date: 2010-09-01; Amazon Instant Video; Movie
Best price: $3.99

Letters from Iwo Jima [Blu-ray]
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-22; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

A Bridge Too Far [Blu-ray]
Sony; Release date: 2008-06-03; Blu-ray
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops: ~~$19.99~~

K-19: The Widowmaker [Blu-ray]
Paramount; Release date: 2010-05-04; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: ~~$14.99~~

Conspiracy
HBO Home Video; Release date: 2002-03-26; DVD
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops: ~~$9.97~~

Downfall [Blu-ray]
Momentum; Blu-ray
Best price: $10.73

Inglourious Basterds [Blu-ray]
Universal; Release date: 2009-12-15; Blu-ray
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops: ~~$19.98~~

Operation Valkyrie
Wellspring Media INC; Release date: 2009-06-16; DVD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: ~~$6.95~~

Enemy at the Gates [Blu-ray]
LAW,JUDE; Release date: 2009-05-19; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.56
Price in other shops: ~~$14.99~~

Defiance [Blu-ray]
Paramount; Release date: 2009-06-02; Published: 2009-06-01; Blu-ray
Best price: $7.72
Price in other shops: ~~$29.99~~