Blu-ray:
DVD:

Cert:

Running time: 121 minutes

Year: 2008

Released: June 2009

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 32 plus extras

Picture: 1080p High Definition

Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio Lossless, Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Latvian

Subtitles: English for hearing impaired

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: BD25

Price: £19.99 (DVD), £24.99 (Blu-ray)

Extras: The Journey To Valkyrie, The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide, The African Front Sequence, Taking to the air, Recreating Berlin, The Valkyrie Legacy, 92nd Street Y: Reel pieces with Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer, Audio Commentaries

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Director:

Bryan Singer (Apt Pupil, Prisoners, Public Access, Superman Returns, Usual Suspects, X-Men 1 & 2, You Want Me To Kill Him?)

Producers:

Gilbert Adler, Christopher McQuarrie and Bryan Singer

Screenplay:

Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander

Original Score :

John Ottman

Cast :

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg: Tom Cruise
Major-General Henning von Tresckow: Kenneth Branagh
General Friedrich Olbricht: Bill Nighy
General Friedrich Fromm: Tom Wilkinson
Nina von Stauffenberg: Carice van Houten
Major Otto Ernst Remer: Thomas Kretschmann
Ludwig Beck: Terence Stamp
General Erich Fellgiebel: Eddie Izzard
Dr. Carl Goerdeler: Kevin McNally
Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim: Christian Berkel
Lieutenant Werner von Haeften: Jamie Parker
Adolf Hitler: David Bamber
Colonel Heinz Brandt: Tom Hollander
Erwin von Witzleben: David Schofield
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel: Kenneth Cranham
Confident General (Desert): Bernard Hill

At the start of Valkyrie, we're deep into the Second World War and the German 10th Panzer Division are in Tunisia, North Africa, along with their most eager recruit, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise). Like many German soldiers, Claus is pissed off with Hitler and wants to be part of the plot to kill the evil man because of all the things he's done such as killing Jews and torturing prisoners. Claus then makes a deal with the Confident General (Bernard Hill) to take their troops off the planned path so they can join up with another division and so they can basically still keep enough men alive for when they'll be needed on a later mission, rather than lead them into certain death. However, this is cut short by an aircraft attack which kills everyone... except Cruise, of course.

As we get to the 13th March 1943, Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) and co try to kill Hitler but their bomb fails to go off, so they recruit Claus once he's back on his feet. The aim is to initiate Operation Valkyrie - in which men all over Berlin are ready if Hitler were to be cut off or killed. They would kick in if a military coup were to take place. So: get Hitler killed, dupe the Reserve Army into arresting the SS troops and then form a new government with decent people instead of corrupt ones. Hmm... sounds like a plan for our own cheating bastards who do everything "within the rules"! Things take a great amount of time, though, and it's not until June 1944 when they try to put it into place Amongst the rest of the film, there's some effective use of CGI when we see a few scenes of Cruise missing various parts of his anatomy, there's a great cast also featuring Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard who is the inside man who will cut all communications once they kill Hitler. It also moves along at a great pace, and it seems a bit odd at first that everyone speaks in their native tongue, rather like The Hunt for Red October, but it's better than putting on a dodgy German accent. However, wouldn't it also have been an idea to aim for authenticity along the lines of Downfall?

Valkyrie is presented in its original 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio and looks as highly detailed as you'd expect a high-definition picture to look which, evokes the period of the time. The sound comes in DTS HD 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 formats. I haven't got a DTS HD setup, which allows for a 7.1 surround speaker setup, but then I haven't got the room for that either, so DTS 5.1 will do for me. The highlights for me were the opening air attack and also the time when they come to make their assassination attempt on Hitler. Dialogue is crisp and clear throughout and there's no disappointment to be found here. The extras are as follows: The Journey To Valkyrie (15:56): Christopher McQuarrie tells us why he wanted to make the film before other cast members chip in including co-writer Nathan Alexander and then all the key cast members. The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide (9:08): A look at Berlin in 1944 as told to us by the real-life Claus' grandson. The African Front Sequence (7:01): How the opening air-raid was put together. Taking to the air (7:32): How you can only get realistic planes in flight by actually flying planes in the air, rather than using CGI. Recreating Berlin (6:51): Most of Berlin at the time was bombed to smithereens, and nowadays the occasional building left is surrounded by loads of modern ones, hence the difficulty. The Valkyrie Legacy (1:54:15): Split up into 9 chapters, this is the 2008 documentary about the real-life story that inspired this film, which was also called "Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler". Excellent stuff for the viewer who can't get enough of all this. 92nd Street Y: Reel pieces with Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer (38:57): A discussion at the New York City cultural and community centre with Cruise and Singer. Audio Commentaries: One from Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, the other from McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander. The main menu features thumping music from the film with images of the cast mixed with shots from the film, all done in a very clever fashion. There are subtitles in several different languages (I might've missed out a couple above as I couldn't figure out all of those in the list on the disc) and there are 32 chapters to the film which is perfectly fine. If you're a fan of this film, then the fantastic set of extras which round the disc out will make this a package not to be missed.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2009.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

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