'Valkyrie' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Tom Landy has reviewed 'Valkyrie.' He says the film tells an amazing story, but it somehow falls short of greatness. This Blu-ray looks great, and the sound is generally pretty strong, but the extras, the extras make this one recommended!

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2203/valkyrie.html

[paaron46]

My main gripe, though, is the way the accents were handled in the film. Pretty well all of the Germans sound British--all except for Stauffenberg of course who sounds American.

I love that you mentioned this. Because I've always thought this even with other films. Like why do all Romans, Greeks, or Spartans have British accents too in other movies?

[Lone_Gunmen]

I saw this in the cinemas, i too felt odd about the accents, but otherwise i really enjoyed it (history nerd). I did feel somewhat moved by the end though.

[Supergrass]

I thought the movie was decent, mainly because the story being told was so compelling. I didn't really have a problem with the accents because I didn't think about them until reading reviews.
However, I have to say that the documentary accompanying the movie is outstanding and may compel me to buy the movie at some point. It definitely ranks among the best extras on any DVD or Blu-ray I've bought or rented.

[Dr Kain]

This movie is excellent and definitely worth the price of the Blu-Ray.

I have to put my two cents in about the voices. Did NO ONE realize they start the movie out in German and then transition to English because they are making it as if you could understand German? What is so hard about it? It is no different than how Nordic was done in The 13th Warrior.

[Lone_Gunmen]

This movie is excellent and definitely worth the price of the Blu-Ray.

I have to put my two cents in about the voices. Did NO ONE realize they start the movie out in German and then transition to English because they are making it as if you could understand German? What is so hard about it? It is no different than how Nordic was done in The 13th Warrior.

Did you read the review at all?

What gives? I know some will argue the explanation that Cruise's narration was in German at the beginning and it slowly drifted into English, and I have no problems with this. What I have an issue with is consistency. Either tell everybody to sound British--or everyone to sound American--but let's not mix and match especially on historical projects

[DrMaustus]

I don't understand the argument about the accents, either. You're watching a film. It's not real life. It seems some people are willing to suspend their disbelief for some things, but not for others.

Let me put it this way: If Cruise, or any of the other fine actors in the film for that matter, were forced to speak in German, do you think that the performances would have been as good? Would you rather Cruise focus on his German pronounciation?

If they had the actors speak German, I'm sure there'd be complaints about that. It's an American-made film for (mostly) an American audience. If they had used subtitles, many people would have refused to watch it.

I'm a WWII history buff, and I wasn't expecting much from a film like this. We know the outcome. The fact that they were able to maintain suspense and move the story along at a terrific pace speaks volumes.

I thought it was a great film. I wanted to dislike Cruise in the role, but I thought he did a fine job.

[CriticalMass]

Has it really taken a month for this to be reviewed here?

[zaphod]

Nice review, thanks!

He definitely looks the part (when compared to images of the real Stauffenberg), but he felt wooden and almost uncomfortable in the role to me.

Really? Von Stauffenberg was tall....

About the accents: this should have been a German movie anyway, like the excellent Downfall. It's a mystery to me why the German film industry was seemingly incapable of turning this important subject into a movie; there even is a descendant of Stauffenberg's who's an actor and his spitting image, fer cryin' out loud. So now we have an American film intended primarily for American audiences, which is by no means a bad thing, but I guess the problem of accents couldn't be avoided. What should they have done, have everybody use an American accent? Not everybody can do one as well as Hugh Laurie. Heck, at least they didn't have anybody talk like a Queenslander!

[weaponX]

I netflixed this last week. I found it very meh..... It something that I could watch once and probably have no real replay value. The picture was fine and the sound was fine as well. I didn't care about the accents because it obviously is a movie meant for entertainment. It's by no means a truly historical reenactment so the fact that most of the characters had british accents didn't affect me at all. It's a solid rental.

[-zombie-]

A friend of mine lent me this disc recently. I had not expected to dislike the film so much. I'm thankful I didn't pay anything to see it. The entire film came off like a cheesy TV movie IMO.

[RoadLizard]

Originally Posted by -zombie-

A friend of mine lent me this disc recently. I had not expected to dislike the film so much. I'm thankful I didn't pay anything to see it. The entire film came off like a cheesy TV movie IMO.

Ouch... I hope my Netflix copy comes soon so I can see for myself.

[nmcmahan52]

the pq/aq was good on this, the movie was ok, like others have said i'm glad i didn't buy it but it's worth watching at least once

[BostonMA]

this is a great movie and one of the most underrated of 08. tom cruise was great, i really feel like he did a great job at showing the nervousness and "looking over the shoulder" feel and he had great intensity like always. the movie never let up once it got fully started and was nonstop suspense until the credits rolled, i wouldve given it 4/5 stars.

as for the accents, i wasnt bothered in the least by the accents with how they handled them with the beginning in german. i was very glad to see tom landy pointing that out instead of the other reviewers who bash the accents and dont even mention the fact why theyre like that. i guess it was all up to how much it bothered you and got on your nerves, even though you knew that they were all speaking german from the opening.

[bfellow]

Originally Posted by DrMaustus

I don't understand the argument about the accents, either. You're watching a film. It's not real life. It seems some people are willing to suspend their disbelief for some things, but not for others.

Let me put it this way: If Cruise, or any of the other fine actors in the film for that matter, were forced to speak in German, do you think that the performances would have been as good? Would you rather Cruise focus on his German pronounciation?

If they had the actors speak German, I'm sure there'd be complaints about that. It's an American-made film for (mostly) an American audience. If they had used subtitles, many people would have refused to watch it.

I'm a WWII history buff, and I wasn't expecting much from a film like this. We know the outcome. The fact that they were able to maintain suspense and move the story along at a terrific pace speaks volumes.

I thought it was a great film. I wanted to dislike Cruise in the role, but I thought he did a fine job.

I thought Tom Cruise did a terrible job unless he was portraying a Tom Cruise.