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Valkyrie
United Artists


5.8

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 131 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violence and brief strong language

Starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Carice van Houten, Thomas Kretschmann, Eddie Izzard, and Terence Stamp

In a country in the grips of evil, in a police state where every move is being watched, in a world where justice and honor have been subverted, a group of men hidden inside the highest reaches of power decide to take action to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known. (United Artists)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Nathan Alexander Christopher McQuarrie
DIRECTED BY:	Bryan Singer
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 19, 2009 Theatrical: December 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	120 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA \| Germany
LANGUAGE(S):	English \| German

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The movie works like a clock. A few minor quibbles aside (the casting of Hitler, for instance), Valkyrie is a highly intelligent and deeply engrossing historical drama and, frame for frame, the year's most suspenseful nail-biter.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

The film is a minor Christmas miracle: It succeeds on its own terms, despite the gossip hounds' best blood-sniffing efforts, and dares to be an entertainment rather than a statement.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The result is a fairly co-ordinated effort that, despite a few miscues, yields a consistently watchable film.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A taut suspense flick for grown-ups.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Tom Cruise is perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The mechanics of the actual plot are pretty amazing. Singer has assembled a top-notch international cast.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Valkyrie, despite being a more straightforward thriller, is less gripping than "Downfall," the most recent film in which Hitler had significant screen time.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Singer has crafted a fine film. One just wishes for greater details -- and a different ending.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Has visual splendor galore, but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense.

Film Threat Scott Mendelson

Valkyrie just misses out on being a great film (it’s no Black Book), but it easily merits mention as a good one.

Slate Dana Stevens

Once Singer dispenses with the introductory pathos and gets to the nuts and bolts of Stauffenberg's plan, Valkyrie becomes an admirably modest and compact suspense thriller.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A perfectly acceptable motion picture. The only thing that keeps it from even greater accomplishments may be inherent in the story itself.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

As a suspense movie, this works pretty well: director Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects) maintains a crisp pace as the plotters set out to kill the fuhrer with a briefcase bomb, and the historical details of the botched coup, which exploited one of Hitler's own contingency plans to mobilize the army reserves and disarm the SS, are inherently interesting.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

A brutally efficient bit of storytelling, and it makes no unforced errors. It is admirably free of any Spielbergian effort to squeeze sentimentality or inspirational lessons out of what is a complicated and morally complex story.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Once the plotters plunge into action, though, Valkyrie becomes both an exciting thriller and a useful history lesson.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's a procedural, often absorbing, rarely surprising, about a briefcase bomb and a near-miss. Yet there's no question the film feels dodgy and vague when it comes to the personalities and ideology of the men onscreen.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It's a smooth, compelling, almost suspenseful (more on that in a bit), and slightly hollow Hollywood period piece.

Premiere Jenni Miller

Marketed as a combination of a popcorn-munching actioner, but that's somewhat misleading -- it's also a well-researched historical thriller. Unfortunately, it ends up not succeeding as either.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Tom Cruise starring in the fact-based story of a plot to kill Hitler by Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg sounds like Oscar bait. It isn't. And the sooner you accept it, the more fun you'll have at this satisfying B movie.

Empire Dan Jolin

A film more concerned with 'how' than 'why' or 'who', Valkyrie would have benefited from more scrutiny and complexity. Still, once the bomb goes off, the thrills come in spades.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A World War II thriller without enough thrills.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

Valkyrie feels like another installment in the never-ending franchise -- not just the action-movie one, but the Tom Cruise one. Like the operation itself, it's a good idea -- just not well-executed.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The film improves once the assassination attempt goes awry, but the audience is never truly invested in the actions of these heroic men.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The history itself is the main appeal here.

NPR Bob Mondello

As action movies go, Valkyrie is pretty short on action.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Directed by Bryan Singer in a break from his gayish superhero movies, it's a low-key procedural with a dollop of suspense--although perhaps not enough to make up for the foregone conclusion.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

What makes Valkyrie more depressing than exciting is that it forces you to ask, against your judgment, what, exactly, he achieved.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

The notorious action star keeps his bombastic persona remarkably reeled in, and the resulting film is earnest, somber, and extremely modest -- almost to a fault.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

If Mr. Cruise doesn't work in Valkyrie, it's partly because he's too modern, too American and way too Tom Cruise to make sense in the role, but also because what passes for movie realism keeps changing, sometimes faster than even a star can change his brand.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Valkyrie's political and military subjects may have sounded like sure-fire thriller material. Wilkinson alone proves that a suspense film thrives on intriguing characters struggling to survive. Nothing in Valkyrie is as compelling as watching tides of calculation crash across Wilkinson's face.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Neither a masterpiece nor an embarrassment, but a workmanlike picture that sits, inoffensively, in the middling space between.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Bryan Singer’s solid direction and some flavorful supporting performances from the dependable likes of Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, and Tom Wilkinson keep Valkyrie within the realm of handsome mediocrity.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It's slickly executed, handsomely acted for the most part and utterly easy to forget.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Sadly, it lacks the classic awfulness that might have lifted it into the pantheon of Truly Bad Movies. Instead, what we have here is a garden variety bad movie, of which there have been all too many lately.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

We all know how it ends, and that foreknowledge dooms Singer's hotly anticipated and much troubled account of the attempt on Adolf Hitler's life.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

If there are Nazis fighting other Nazis in a movie and it's still boring, something's gone wrong. Valkyrie has a coterie of problems, and represents a whole new front in Tom Cruise's public relations war, but first and foremost there's the tedium.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.8 (out of 10) based on 131 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Levente S gave it a9:
I don't know why everyone hates Tom Cruise, he's not a bad actor and I don't see why the fact that he's a nut job should interfere with me enjoying his not-bad acting. Valkyrie doesn't have a lot to say about it except this: I knew every single detail of the July 20 plot before I saw this film and I was still on the edge of my seat for every second of it. Any picture that can do that is worth seeing in my book.

George M gave it an8:
Valkyrie is probably one of the more interesting films I've seen lately regarding an important part of WWII history, and that being one of the many assassination attempts on Hitler's life by the Germans themselves. It's interesting to see these heroic Germans banding together to help take down a tyrannical leader that is clearly ruining the world around them. These heroes care about their country and their way of life that has seemingly been stripped away from them for far too long...and when our main character Staufenberg (Cruise) gets injured, its the last straw. Cruise does a decent enough job with whats given to him...playing a character that is completely torn away from his duty to serve a leader that simlply isn't worth serving. Its ruined his body and his way of life, and he is sick of it...and he jumps at the oppurtunity to change things, which is noble and heroic given the dire consequences he knows he will undoubtedly face if caught. The rest of the (amazing) cast does an even better job...most notable Kenneth Bragnagh, Terrence Stamp, and Bill Nighy. Overall the film is rather predictable, its not very tense as anyone with a shred of knowledge regarding history will know how this all plays out but it still makes for a very interesting watch. RECOMMENDED.

Caitlin R gave it an8:
This film was not as bad as (almost) everyone is saying, in spite of Tom Cruise (who was tolerable in here). It was a quiet and understated thriller that kept my attention.

Vladimir V gave it a10:
A very good movie about real facts in history.

M. A gave it a6:
Pretty much OK to watch, but you forget it fairly quickly.

Vincnet & Joanna gave it a5:
My main issue with this film is the lack of authenticity created by the use of British and American speech by 'German Characters'. The film lacks continuity because you have all of these 'non-germans' reciting their lines when there should have been a larger effort for authenticity. I would have loved to sense that these were Germans conspiring against the Nazis, but I just didn't get that total feeling.

Jay H gave it a6:
Two big flaws: It should have gone the route of "Downfall", and been a historical drama instead of a routine thriller. Second, I could not help but think of how many many actors would have been sooooo much better cast than Tom Cruise. He is not the least bit convincing. The production is excellent - good art direction, cinematography etc.

Valkyrie United Artists

Valkyrie
United Artists