Valkyrie

A historical thriller executed with precision, which, even despite the handicap of having a known ending, manages to generate tension better than most of today’s competition. Cruise is not quite up to the task, which results in several uneven scenes (the ones with his wife), but the perfect performances of the rest of the cast more than make up for it. It’s not a perfect film by any means, but I still liked Valkyrie more than three fifths of this year’s Oscar contenders. (17/02/2009)

Valkyrie will be enjoyed the most by those who like to dig into this particular historical period. Bryan Singer approaches his subject matter responsibly, without twisting history to better suit his movie. Valkyrie doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t; it has no ambition to be a piece of “high art” and it doesn’t comment on politics like Spielberg’s Munich. It just reconstructs events as a solid conspiratorial thriller with high production values, exciting and well-cast (despite being a small part, Kenneth Branagh’s General von Tresckow is the film’s most interesting and best played character). And its ending doesn’t lack emotion or depth, which reminds us that someone was courageous enough to at least try... P.S. John Ottman’s choral main theme is beautiful! (16/01/2009)

As a reconstruction of historical events, it's captivating. From a purely cinematic perspective, it's slightly austere, but still very skillfully executed craftsmanship – Singer pulled off a feat that was somewhat expected of him. The English language might be distracting, but you eventually get used to it. Many scenes are breathtaking, with Hitler's character being particularly interesting. It's worth noting that it's not the actor himself who portrays the demonic aspect, but rather the camera, the chosen music, and the brilliant editing. The rest of the actors are also excellently chosen, there are plenty of stars and a large number of quality performances. It's not exactly entertainment, but with every frame, it showcases intelligent, raw, realistic filmmaking. It's a professional affair and a hundred percent clean work. (10/05/2009)

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)

The first half an hour was admittedly difficult, full of Hollywood clichés, with each prominent character being a well-known actor, which made it almost impossible to believe that this group was the one that took part in the real Operation Valkyrie. Tom Cruise had a lot of confidence when he decided to become Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg. But if one agrees to play the game, one wins and is rewarded with one of the best films about the assassination of Hitler. (22/12/2020)