Redunk Review - Valkyrie
Last night I was given the opportunity to see a prescreening of "Valkyrie" starring Tom Cruise and Tom Wilkinson, directed by Bryan Singer. This movie doesn't actually hit theaters until December 26th, but I'm so awesome and I give good feedback to the guys taking polls so I was given special privledges.
If you don't know anything about it already, this is a World War II genre film about the last assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by the Germans. There were 15 know attempts on his life by his own people.
This film has great historical value. I found it to be not only fascinating, but well shot, well acted, and at times very tense. There are a few things I'd like to go over:
1) Tom Cruise = The Crap. I don't care if you like him or not, he is a great actor, and he really gives a great performance in this film.
2) The cast (Other than Tom Cruise) is primarily British actors playing German soldiers. The only German accent in the whole film came from Hitler himself. Its interesting to watch Nazis speak as if they just had tea time.
3) The movie opens with Cruise's character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, narrating in German with English subtitles as he writes a letter, also in German. After a short while his German narration cross fades into his English narration. I think this was the directors way of showing the audience "Look, its all being translated for you now." I thought this was a great idea.
4) Eddie Izzard is in this and he is not funny. He does do a great job though.
5) The plan for overthrowing Hitlers regime is really quite brilliant. It uses his own system and plans against him. You can read more about Unternehmen Walküre here.
This movie is not something you want to go see if you are not interested in its historic significance or want to watch some Nazis get blowed up. This is a story about the German resistance against the regime of Adolf Hitler and the men that plotted it out and executed it. If you're any bit of a history buff, or a Tom Cruise fan, than I strongly recommend seeing it. Again, if you want cheap thrills and violence, go see Punisher: War Zone.
I give it a 8/10. This is mainly for its historic accuracy as well as its great performances. Although I did like it very much, I can see it as something easily forgettable. There's not a whole lot of wow factor that leaves you longing for more.
I suppose this review isn't really too redunk, but the true story of Unternehmen Walküre is super redunk.
Here's a modern quick recap:
(WARNING: There be spoilers here)
"Dude, Hitler needs to go down. He's really jacking things up. I know we've tried this like fourteen other times, but lets blow this mother to kingdom come and overthrow his government. Any ideas?"
"Yeah I got one, lets blast him with some explosives, kill all the commnications on his base, initiate a doctored version of Valkyrie that we'll get him to unknowingly sign, then initiate the reserve army, arrest all the SS and blame the coup on them, establish a new chancellor and end the war and try and sign a treaty with the allies."
"Ummm... ok, wow, that sounds pretty metal."
"Yeah, its way hardcore."
"Shiny, lets be bad guys... I mean, conspirators"
*The plan unfolds*
"Duece. They changed the meeting to another building, I'm not sure if this bomb is big enough now. Oh well, I'll just set it reeeeally close to him."
"Woah! I totally just blew up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"Woah! you did totally just blow up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"I know, now lets get the crap outta here and take some fools down!"
"So... I didn't really hear if Hitler had died or anything so I waited an extra three hours until you got back to Berlin before intiating Valkyrie... are you mad at me?"
"Dude, you are an IDIOT and I'm going to slap you like a drunkard when this is all through. Lets get that reserve army out there kicking some SS butt now!"
"This is crazy! We're actually taking everything over! Quick, we gotta finish taking Berlin"
"Oh man, Hitlers not dead, yo! Dude, we're screwed. Lets get the heck out of Dodge!"
"Awww crap. They caught us. We're going to die."
"You know, I know I'm going to die, but you were in on this too, don't think they won't light you up as well you freaking Judas."
*All conspirators are tried with treason and executed. Nine months later, Hitler commits suicide and Germany loses the war.*
Side note: Bryan Singer wrote and directed Superman Returns, and although I'd still like to see him publicly beaten for that steaming pile of crap, he did very good on this film and actually produced The Usual Suspects, which is also amazing.
If you don't know anything about it already, this is a World War II genre film about the last assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by the Germans. There were 15 know attempts on his life by his own people.
This film has great historical value. I found it to be not only fascinating, but well shot, well acted, and at times very tense. There are a few things I'd like to go over:
2) The cast (Other than Tom Cruise) is primarily British actors playing German soldiers. The only German accent in the whole film came from Hitler himself. Its interesting to watch Nazis speak as if they just had tea time.
3) The movie opens with Cruise's character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, narrating in German with English subtitles as he writes a letter, also in German. After a short while his German narration cross fades into his English narration. I think this was the directors way of showing the audience "Look, its all being translated for you now." I thought this was a great idea.
4) Eddie Izzard is in this and he is not funny. He does do a great job though.
5) The plan for overthrowing Hitlers regime is really quite brilliant. It uses his own system and plans against him. You can read more about Unternehmen Walküre here.
I give it a 8/10. This is mainly for its historic accuracy as well as its great performances. Although I did like it very much, I can see it as something easily forgettable. There's not a whole lot of wow factor that leaves you longing for more.
I suppose this review isn't really too redunk, but the true story of Unternehmen Walküre is super redunk.
Here's a modern quick recap:
(WARNING: There be spoilers here)
"Dude, Hitler needs to go down. He's really jacking things up. I know we've tried this like fourteen other times, but lets blow this mother to kingdom come and overthrow his government. Any ideas?"
"Yeah I got one, lets blast him with some explosives, kill all the commnications on his base, initiate a doctored version of Valkyrie that we'll get him to unknowingly sign, then initiate the reserve army, arrest all the SS and blame the coup on them, establish a new chancellor and end the war and try and sign a treaty with the allies."
"Ummm... ok, wow, that sounds pretty metal."
"Yeah, its way hardcore."
"Shiny, lets be bad guys... I mean, conspirators"
*The plan unfolds*
"Duece. They changed the meeting to another building, I'm not sure if this bomb is big enough now. Oh well, I'll just set it reeeeally close to him."
"Woah! I totally just blew up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"Woah! you did totally just blow up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"I know, now lets get the crap outta here and take some fools down!"
"So... I didn't really hear if Hitler had died or anything so I waited an extra three hours until you got back to Berlin before intiating Valkyrie... are you mad at me?"
"Dude, you are an IDIOT and I'm going to slap you like a drunkard when this is all through. Lets get that reserve army out there kicking some SS butt now!"
"This is crazy! We're actually taking everything over! Quick, we gotta finish taking Berlin"
"Oh man, Hitlers not dead, yo! Dude, we're screwed. Lets get the heck out of Dodge!"
"Awww crap. They caught us. We're going to die."
"You know, I know I'm going to die, but you were in on this too, don't think they won't light you up as well you freaking Judas."
*All conspirators are tried with treason and executed. Nine months later, Hitler commits suicide and Germany loses the war.*
teh end!
Side note: Bryan Singer wrote and directed Superman Returns, and although I'd still like to see him publicly beaten for that steaming pile of crap, he did very good on this film and actually produced The Usual Suspects, which is also amazing.
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