MOVIE REVIEWS

About This Movie: During World War II, German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is severely wounded in Africa and returns home to Nazi Germany. Stauffenberg helps conceive Operation Valkyrie, a plan approved by Adolf Hitler which, in order to manage turmoil within Germany, would implement a shadow government in the event of the Nazi Führer's death. The Colonel eventually joins the German Resistance and becomes part of the July 20 plot, a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and execute Valkyrie in order to take control of the country and make peace with the Allies. Stauffenberg finds himself taking on not only the responsibility of leading the coup, but also the task to assassinate Hitler himself.

Director: Bryan Singer

Actors: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, Kevin McNally, David Schofield, Christian Berkel, Jamie Parker, Eddie Izzard, David Bamber, Tom Wilkinson, Thomas Kretschmann, Harvey Friedman, Kenneth Cranham, Matthias Freihof, Carice van Houten, Gerhard Haase-Hindenberg, Anton Algrang, Werner Daehn.

FASTERCHILD's Review: We got an exclusive look at this movie last Tuesday thanks to Q The Muse. I didn't even know what the movie was going to be about when we got there. But then I remembered after a couple seconds in that it was about an assassination attempt on Hitler. Knowing Q The Muse, he was going to love it no matter what because he has a healthy obsession with that kind of stuff. But, I hate history, politics, and everything in between. Maybe that made it a better movie, though. Since I had no idea what was going on because I don't follow historical matters, the ending was unanticipated. Anyway, Valkyrie was a pretty good movie regardless of me being an idiot. There were points where I thought I was going to have a heart attack right in the theater from all the suspense. But, there were other parts that were really boring. Thankfully there weren't too many. When it comes to the ending of the movie, I am always a sucker for a sad one. Yes, I cried and feel stupid for it. Leave me alone! I think everyone else that went to see it thought I hated it because instead of talking about right after, I was silent trying to choke back the tears. Ugh... embarrassing. Anyway, I would suggest watching this movie at home on your big screen rather than going to the theaters. It's something you would probably much rather enjoy in the comfort of your own home. I mean, it's not like there are amazing special effects going on all the time or anything. That's not to say that it's not a good movie, though. I would completely recommend watching it! Just wait for the DVD to come out, that's all.

Q The Muse's Review: Valkyrie is supposed to be released on the 25 of December. I actually just saw the trailer for the first time yesterday (a few days AFTER I saw the movie). I heard about Valkyrie like most of you have: "The new Nazi movie with that scientologist guy". My expectations were set a tad low considering not many people heard about this film before this week. However, I do appreciate any movie with Nazis so I gathered the troops with the promise of a free movie. The beginning of the film opened on a red background that ebb and flowed like the sea. The Wehrmacht oath could be heard powerfully as a phantom chant by hundreds of devoted Nazi soldiers, while the German words etched themselves in grey onto the red. As the oath of hitlerian loyalty went on, the letters enflamed themselves into English translation and the red sea reveled itself to be part of a waving flag. The Swastika showed only a fraction of itself in shame, reflecting the theme of the movie we were about to watch. This same German to English method of translating was used in the beginning narration by Tom Cruise who spoke the first three sentences of his monologue in perfect German to have his voice morph into English as he wrote in his personal diary. It's sometimes frustrating when watching a movie about foreign affairs and having every character speak in English with either a British or American accent even though it takes place in Germany or Japan or Russia etc. So this method of explanation to implore the audience to suspend disbelief and pardon their accents was definitely appreciated. The 2 hour film never dragged on and was very emotionally charged. There were moments where I thought I was going to choke up and shed a patriotic tear. The movie was very accurate in it's depiction of the failed plot to save Germany from Hitler while supporting it's structure before the allied forces took down the whole regime altogether. Tom Cruise also does a great job holding this film and even looks exactly like Stauffenberg (minus the buttchin and obnoxiously tiny ears). By the end of the film the whole audience was silent in reflection and filed out of the theater appropriately. I was left with an interesting taste in my mouth. Hints of paranoia, civil responsibility, shame, and fulfillment. By the way, FASTERCHILD, he says "Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!"