Valkyrie was the subject of a bit of bad press prior to its release. Many in Germany were not happy with fact that the movie was being made on their soil as Germany has rather strict laws against displays of Nazi symbols and the glorification of the Nazi regime. Accordingly, there was a lot of pressure within Germany to prevent the filming of Valkyrie on German soil even though the film does not glorify or promote the Nazi cause one bit and is, in fact, a story about a group of brave Germans who gave their lives in an attempt to topple the Nazi regime during the war.

In addition, several German politicians as well as the von Stauffenberg family were also quite upset with the casting of Tom Cruise as Claus von Stauffenberg due to the status of Scientology under German law. Nonetheless, the filming went on as scheduled with Tom Cruise in the lead role despite the protests. Word of early screenings not going so well also trickled out in the press. As a result of the bad press, I was fully prepared not to like this film. However, this film is much better than I had expected. However is it good enough to rate a buy recommendation?

Film

Valkyrie tells the tall of a plot by a group of German military officers in 1944 to assassinate Adolph Hitler and end the war. They viewed the Nazi regime with disgust for its mass killings and perversion of the German society as well as its military. They recognized that Germany could not win the war and rather than seeing the military and their country destroyed and the loss of the lives of even more innocent civilians for what was essentially a lost cause, they got together and planned to kill Hitler and assume control of the German Army is what was known as project Valkyrie.

The film centers around the role played by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a young German officer who had lost his left eye, his right hand and three fingers on his left hand in battle in North Africa. Heir von Stauffenberg was sent to the North Africa theater as he had been expressing displeasure with the war. It was thought that if they got him far enough form Berlin, his sentiments were less likely to become known the the Gestapo which would only result in his imprisonment, or worse.

After a period of rehabilitation in Berlin after his injuries, his leanings became known to a group of officers and politicians who were interested in overthrowing Hitler. Together, they planned the assassination attempt and provided von Stauffenberg with access to Hitler whereby he could place a bomb nearby to kill him and his top military staff. While the bomb did go off, only part of the bomb detonated leaving Hitler injured but alive.

Valkyrie is based on a true story and as far as I can tell, is historically accurate with few typical Hollywood plot enhancements to spruce up the narrative for movie audiences. The film is well written and paced with some excellent performances, including Tom Wilkinson as General Fromm and Bill Nighy as General Olbricht. However, I also found Tom Cruise to be a bit stiff, trying to act too much like a movie star rather than becoming Claus von Stauffenberg.

The film is certainly filled with tension and suspense, even though the ultimate outcome of the film is known from the beginning. That is always the issue with thrillers based on actual historical events. While I enjoyed the film and feel that it is a better film than most of the film critics found it to be, it is not the type of film that I can imagine myself watching multiple times. While I can recommend it as a film, I can only recommend it as a rental. It is definitely worth seeing but only as a rental.

Video

I was quite impressed with the picture quality of this release. The film has a rather pleasing if a bit cool looking color palette with very good black levels. I also found the overall clarity and detail to be excellent as well with a good sense of depth and three dimensionality to the image. Facial detail was excellent as were the fine details of the clothing, the interior locations and the period vehicles. I also was not able to detect any evidence of edge enhancement on my 60″ screen or the use of digital noise reduction.

The detail on this release is excellent with all film grain appearing to be intact, especially during the dark scenes in the film where the film grain is very visible, less so during the more brightly lit scenes. While the clarity of the film overall was excellent, there was some issues with some softening of the image during some interior darker scenes. I found this to be quite infrequent and not all that distracting and didn’t feel that it warranted much in a reduction in my overall score. I also did not observe any issues with the condition of the print which appeared to be in excellent shape. I am sure fans of this film will be more than pleased with the look of the film on its Blu-ray debut… I certainly was.

Audio

I was just as pleased with the audio quality on this release as I was with the video quality, perhaps even a bit more. There are parts of this release which contain reference quality audio. In particular, I draw your attention to the scene in North Africa at the beginning of the film where von Stauffenberg loses his left eye, right hand and three fingers of his left hand in an attack by British warplanes. The sound of the planes heading over your head from your left to your right is delivered with an astounding sense of reality.

At reference audio levels, it sounds as if those planes are roaring overhead in your room. The heft and weight of the gunshots and explosions is just as impressive, sounding as real as they possibly could on a soundtrack. Very, very impressive. I also found the use of the surround speakers to be very impressive during most of the film, creating a very involving immersive effect. This effect was very evident in the scenes that took place in large rooms, where the size and spaciousness of the rooms was conveyed beautifully, placing you in the room with the cast.

The most impressive use of the surrounds also takes place near the beginning of the film after von Stauffenberg returns home to visit his family after he is released from the army hospital. Shortly after his arrival, while Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries plays on the phonograph, the area where his home is located comes under an aerial attack, forcing the family into the basement. The surrounds are active throughout this scene and you can hear the walls rattle all around you as the bombs detonate outside. Bomb blasts can be heard both in the distance and near the home. It kind of reminds me of the excellent sound design in the film U571 where the sub is subject to depth charge attacks., which can be heard coming closer and closer until they explode just outside the sub, rattling your room in the process.

Overall, the fidelity of the audio track, especially the musical score, is fantastic, with a smooth and open sound and excellent transparency, imaging and dynamics. I can’t imagine the score for this film sounding any better than it does on this DTS HD Master Audio encode. For the most part, the dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix, with the exception of a couple of occasions where the volume of the dialogue appeared to be a bit lower than the rest of the film. I don’t really know whether this is the fault of the encode or the original sound mix for the film. However, given that it occurs both infrequently and fleetingly, I didn’t feel that it deserved a significant reduction in the overall score. This is a great sounding track with some reference quality audio with which to show off your system.

Special Features

I was particularly impressed with some of the extras on this release, most of which were presented in high definition. While the release is not BD-Live enabled, it does come with a digital copy which is compatible with Macs and PCs. The release features two audio commentaries, one with Tom Cruise, director Bryan Singer and co-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie and the second, with the two screenwriters, the aforementioned Christopher McQuarrie as well as Nathan Alexander.

Also included are several featurettes. “The Journey to Valkyrie” details all that went into the making of the film, including the genesis of the screenplay, the selection of Tom Cruise as the lead and the selection of the sites where the film was shot.

The featurette “The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide” takes you to the actual historical sites where the events featured in the film actually occurred and is hosted by one of Claus von Stauffenberg’s grandsons who also has an small role in the film. The African Front Sequence illustrates how those scenes were shot and how the explosive sequences were put together.

The featurette “Taking to the Air” details how vintage aircraft were used in the film rather than relying on CGI as is commonplace in most films nowadays.

“Recreating Berlin” demonstrates how sections of Berlin were used to recreate the look of the city which was mostly destroyed during the war.

The only extra not in HD is the “92nd Street Y: Reel Pieces” with Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer. This featurette was filmed in December 2008 at the New York City Cultural Center where a special screening of the film was shown. After the screening, a Q & A occurred that was moderated by Dr. Arnette Insdorf who is the moderator of the Reel Pieces series at the NYC Cultural Center. It is this interview and Q & A which is the subject of this featurette.

The last and IMHO, the best of the featurettes is the documentary, “The Valkyrie Legacy”, which documents the actual German resistance movement using interviews with historians and actual archival war footage to tell this intriguing story. If you only check out one of the extras, this is the one to see.

Final Thoughts

Valkyrie tells the riveting tale of the attempted assassination of Adolph Hitler in 1944 and the story of its architect, Claus von Stauffenberg. The Blu-ray release features above average video quality and at times, reference audio quality, and is well worth a spin.