Customer Rating:  
Summary: Great movie, bad audio
Comment: You would think by now the studios would be able to manufacture a quality Blu-Ray disk. But NO....great movie is destroyed by POOR Audio....
Customer Rating:
Summary: Surprising, and an important footnote to history
Comment: Surprising because Tom Cruise apparently took some critical knocks but, here, they aren't warranted. Cruise, in an unexpectedly effective turn from the kind of work with which he is most associated, comes up with an effective and even convincing performance as the Nazi-era German Col. Claus von Stauffenberg who directs an attempt to save literally all of Eurpoe by killing his boss - his Fuhrer, Adolph Hitler. Based on actual events that came to a head July 20, 1944, when a bomb that was planted with Hitler standing only feet away failed to hit its target, Valkyrie was the German code name of the operation to be implemented to keep Hitler's Germany on the Fuhrer's course in the event of his death. The plot, the last known of 15 attempts by German resistant forces to kill Hitler and his vision for the country, is arguably the best known to history as cited in memorials throughout Berlin honoring the lives of the conspirators. This film version, incredibly well acted with a stellar cast that includes Terence Stamp, Kenneth Branagh and the always-superb Tom Wilkinson, comes across with passion, compassion, historic accuracy and a sense of respect for those German military men who snubbed their loyalty oath to Hitler in an attempt to close what they saw even then to be one of the darkest chapters in human history. The film didn't slay any giants at the box office or come close to blockbuster status. That's a shame, if for no other reason than the historic importance of the film didn't hit a mass audience. The film deserved a better commerical showing, and perhaps it will find its just due in the home DVD market. Also unfortunate is the critical slam Cruise was dealt; it isn't justified. Literally within weeks of the failed July 20 plot, most of its architects were executed; ironically, just nine months later, with Berlin surounded by the Red Army and the threat of other Allied forces nearing, Hitler committed suicide. The viewer who is unfamiliar with the history of the event probably will not fully appreciate the film's purpose and message, but so it goes with any other movie based on historic events. This film is too important to be missed if for no other reason than to show that not all the men and women in Hitler's regime shared the evil that cloaked their Fuhrer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: WAGNER NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD
Comment: It's a amazing that a story that you know the end to can be so riviting. Cruise is great as usual as the hero in this heroic tale of treason. All the actors in this movie are first rate, especially the simpering Wilkerson. Maybe it was because I knew how this movie would end that I found it so hard to watch, I kept getting up and leaving the room, it's tragic beyond belief the true ending of this movie. When you think of all the lives that could have been spared had it ended differently. This is a very sobering movie and not for the faint at heart. Having said that, I recommend this movie, for not only it's riviting pace, but also for its lesson in altruism.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Truth is more Compelling than Fiction!
Comment: What makes this movie so exciting, tense and moving, is that it is based upon a true story. And Cruise's portrayal of Von Stauffenberg is compelling. It's more engaging than 90% of the Hwood fictional junk out there, because YOU KNOW that the conspirators are standing up to a huge, dark, powerful Beast (Hitler's Killing Machine), and that they are going to fail & die in the end.
BUT they nearly did it! A recent scientific examination said that Hitler would have died if (1) the briefcase bomb wasn't moved accidentally, (2) two charges were used, as planned, not just one, or (3) the meeting was in the bunker, not the conference house. So Von Stauffenberg and co-conspirators came VERY, VERY CLOSE to killing Hitler. One might wonder if God was "looking" down at the time, why didn't he just "tweak" the physics 0.01% to cause Hitler to die? This would have saved literally millions of lives that perished in the last year of the European theater of WWII. It's the Butterfly effect -- a small error, a slightly small charge in the bomb, a wiff of air, caused Hitler to survive, and in surviving, a massive change in history resulted. It has lots of philosophical implications.
Many PC-types might not like this movie because they want to think of the entire German population in WWII as evil..... well, screw them (the PC-types). It's heart-wrenching and compelling to think that courageous men like Von Stauffenberg willingly gave their lives to try to kill Hitler and put into place the Valkyrie plan, in order to try to save their country from the Nazi barbarians. The plan was BRILLIANT, and would have worked! They had planned to blame the SS and seize control of Berlin with the Reserve troops -- it was all working except for the little fact that HITLER DIDN'T DIE.
Oh, yes, the movie. Lots of tense scenes. Particularly when he's getting Hitler himself to sign the amended copy of Valkyrie, and of course leading up to the bomb. Lots of steely resolve and appropriate acting by Cruise. Excellent supporting acting ensemble (like Kenneth Branagh, Terrance Stamp, Thomas Kretschman). Some very memorable scenes ... Kretschman's character picking up the phone while Goebbels waits, ready to kill himself, only to see Kretschman stiffen and freak out when he hears the supposedly dead Hitler on the phone. Another: Cruise being forced to give the Nazi salute, and saying "Heil Hitler" while saluting with his right arm (which is missing a hand from war wounds!!)
I highly recommend this movie (4 stars is a good score for me!)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A BAD DVD
Comment: THE DVD WE PURCHASED WOULD NOT WORK IN TWO DIFFERENT PLAYERS. WE FIRST TRIED IT IN OUR PLAYER AND THEN HAD OUR DAUGHTER TAKE IT HOME AND ATTEMPT TO PLAY IT. IT DID NOT WORK IN EITHER OF THEM.
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