Valkyrie

ExtremeSleuth

ExtremeSleuth

Veteran
Just saw this.

Great story. Great idea for a movie. Horribly executed. This is a film that should have been done in Germany, by German filmmakers, with German actors, not Americans and British playing Germans. That was a horrible mistake. The movie felt "fake" to me.

Cruise was eh in the film. Not good, but not as bad as some people said.

Went into the film wanting to like it, but it didn't give me the chance.

Noticed a few line jumps in the film that were distracting also.
 
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I have to disagree. I admit it would have felt much more authentic with German actors speaking german with English subtitles. But I'll take English over authenticity any day... I can't stand subtitles. Way too distracting.

I am very glad that they made no attempt to have Tom Cruise or any other actor fake german accents. While it can certainly be done well, with those involved I'm not convinced it would have worked. Really, I've always wondered why films have characters speak english with foreign accents when the audience is supposed to assume they are speaking another language. If you aren't going to have them speak the actual words, what does it matter if they have an accent or not? Those watching have already accepted a certain measure of unrealism, why not just make it easy (and have better acting) and let the actors use their real voices?

As for the film itself, I really enjoyed it. I was very suprised by how much detail the film goes into regarding the plot itself. I went in expecting more of a drama about Von Stauffenberg's life rather than a total focus on his efforts to bring down Hitler. I'm very glad they did it this way.

All in all, I'd certainly recommend it. I almost decided to wait for DVD, but in retrospect am very glad I saw it on the big screen.
 
TwistedLincoln said:
I have to disagree. I admit it would have felt much more authentic with German actors speaking german with English subtitles. But I'll take English over authenticity any day... I can't stand subtitles. Way too distracting.

I am very glad that they made no attempt to have Tom Cruise or any other actor fake german accents. While it can certainly be done well, with those involved I'm not convinced it would have worked. Really, I've always wondered why films have characters speak english with foreign accents when the audience is supposed to assume they are speaking another language. If you aren't going to have them speak the actual words, what does it matter if they have an accent or not? Those watching have already accepted a certain measure of unrealism, why not just make it easy (and have better acting) and let the actors use their real voices?

As for the film itself, I really enjoyed it. I was very suprised by how much detail the film goes into regarding the plot itself. I went in expecting more of a drama about Von Stauffenberg's life rather than a total focus on his efforts to bring down Hitler. I'm very glad they did it this way.

All in all, I'd certainly recommend it. I almost decided to wait for DVD, but in retrospect am very glad I saw it on the big screen.
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I agree that they shouldn't have done German accents. That would have been horrible.
 
Valkyrie was a great film...from a story source long overlooked for a big budget film.

Everyone speaks in their own accent...
the American actors, the British actors, the German actors, etc.
This was what Singer wanted, probably to keep from having some Colonel Klink-esque distraction.
Didn't you notice the language transition at the beginning? With the journal?
I thought that was a brilliant device...and in the most original way I've seen since Red October.

Tom Cruise is getting a bum rap on his performance...which was very solid and moving.
It could be argued that his was an old-school-Hollywood performance - but it was solid nonetheless.
 
Even if you took out the post-Rommel North Africa explosion stuff (which is IMO very important)...

Recreating Central Command - S.S. Headquarters - The Berghof - etc. takes
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Great film. I really enjoyed it. While I agree that the weakest aspect is that it would be more authentic with real German actors speaking their native language, all other aspects were very good. Another minor criticism is that while the actor they got to play Hitler was good, they should've gotten Bruno Ganz, who depicted Hitler in Downfall. After that movie, I can't really picture anyone else playing Hitler on screen.

Zak, I didn't know that this story was already done in German. I guess I'm a doof that fell for another Hollywood remake/adaptation of a successful foreign film.
 
I'm glad he did it in English...

Unlike The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan, this isn't a multi-language film.
If there are contrasting languages (as in the two I mentioned) then natural language works best.
Since there is not, this way works best. It is well established that everyone is "really" speaking in German.
(As I mentioned before, the opening journal scene reiterated this for anyone too out of touch to think otherwise)

I am blown away that Singer was able to keep the story so uber-captivating...
'specially seeing as how the ending sure as hell ain't gonna be a surprise.
 
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SPOILER!!!!!

pretty cool to have a movie where not only do the heroes fail, but they all get killed.

other than that i didn't see much special. good movie. I give it a B-

also, I f-ing love Bill Nighy.
 
Well, from a historical point of view, I was expecting the plot to involve Rommel at some point. I was sorely disspointed with that, given how Rommel was recalled by Hitler and was later implicated in the plot too. I was expecting the last car ride Rommel took when he was made to end his life in exhange for his family's safety and keep his legacy intact. Too bad, that would have made this mivie more conspiratorial as the trailer suggested.
 
ZFarms Productions said:
Why's it need a big budget? Not all films need a "Hollywood" budget to be good.
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To afford that cast this had to be a big budget film..

I thought it was great.

I was far more invested in the movie than I thought I would be.. and it was probably because I didn't have to read subtitles..

I love a good foreign language film as much as the next guy, but reading subtitles on this wouldn't have improved the story or the acting for me.. it would have just been in german..

Overall, great film. I didn't really want to see this initially, but was pleasantly surprised.
 
Loki said:
I was far more invested in the movie than I thought I would be.. and it was probably because I didn't have to read subtitles..

I love a good foreign language film as much as the next guy, but reading subtitles on this wouldn't have improved the story or the acting for me.. it would have just been in german.
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Good observation. I never really thought about it like that but it makes sense. On one hand you could have German actors but then the audience has to read subtitles, while on the other hand no subtitles frees up some of our concentration while viewing the film. Plus, its not like this was originally shot in Germany with German actors like Downfall for example, and then dubbed into english.

I'm the same way, especially when it comes to anime. When I'm watching a foreign live action film, then its subtitles all the way, but when I watch anime I always like to choose the english dub so I can focus on the visuals.
 
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