Main Feature
Valkyrie is blessed with some fine acting, especially from the fantastic supporting cast which includes Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson. I’m a huge fan of Bryan Singer, mainly for what he did with the incredible The Usual Suspects, but despite Kevin Spacey’s best attempts I didn’t like Superman Returns and I saw this as Singer’s opportunity to get back to what should be a glittering career. Singer deserves a great deal of credit for creating such tension when we know the outcome in advance. Cruise does a good job as Col. Stauffenberg, which isn’t a surprise as he’s normally pretty solid if not always remarkable, but I couldn’t avoid feeling that the Hollywood star was dwarfed (no pun intended) by the theatrical veterans surrounding him.
There is something linked to the film which I feel the need to address. The IMDB site is a useful tool in finding out cast lists and release dates but at the same time the discussion boards can often be filled with groups of morons telling idiots how stupid they are and its ability to magnify ignorance is second only to Youtube. There appears to be widespread anti-Cruise and anti-American sentiments and this is often heightened by counter-ignorance which only adds fuel to the small minded remarks.
The use of the English language in the film as opposed to the historically accurate German is apparently enough to kick-start World War Three. There is a suggestion that the film should either be in German which would require replacing the actors or having them learn the German language or that the actors should put on a German accent while speaking English. The choice of English somehow leads to accusations that Americans are ignorant and want to dismiss historical accuracy by forcing through their own language. More worrying is the ignorant counter-argument which wrongly suggests that the film has an American cast when in fact the vast majority are British with some Dutch and German.
There is a suggestion that the film can’t possibly be intense since it’s heavily based on historical events and we already know how the story ends. I will now shoot down this theory as this is one of the most exciting films I have seen in a long time so much so that at several points I was overwhelmed by what was happening on screen and found myself thinking that they might somehow manage to pull it off.
Extras
There are not one but two commentaries included on this disc, the first features Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer, and writer Christopher McQuarrie and the second features McQuarrie once again but this time joined by his co-writer Nathan Alexander.
“The Journey to Valkyrie” is an interesting documentary which covers the amount of effort Singer and his crew went to in order to make the film as authentic as possible. “The Road to Resistance: A Visual Guide” is another short documentary presented by Col. Stauffenberg’s grandson who takes us on a tour of places in Berlin which were of great importance to his grandfather.
“The African Front Sequence” describes how they planned for that early scene including the choice of more realistic explosions. “Taking to the Air” explains the benefits of using genuine war-planes as opposed to taking the more usual CG route.
“92nd Street Y” is a substantial question and answer session with the Director, Bryan Singer, and star of the film, Tom Cruise and offers an insight into why they were drawn to this story.
Given the historical context of the film I fully expected some sort of meaty extra but I was blown away by “The Valkyrie Legacy” which is a truly epic documentary with a running time just short of two hours. This is packed with interviews, photographs, and film footage depicting the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and this would be an interesting feature film in its own right.
Summary
On one hand there is a solid performance from Cruise, an even better performance from the gifted supporting cast, Singer is back to his best, and the level of tension is fantastic. On the other hand you have a selection of interesting extras headlined by a heavyweight documentary. When you combine the two you end up with a wonderful Blu-ray disc packed with excitement and historical information.
Rating: 
Great review….I agree with pretty much every comment you have made on the film. I loved Valkyrie and though it was completely overlooked during awards season. This is a pretty interesting clip from one of the special features on the blu-ray DVD. Its interesting to see how committed Singer is to the project and furthers your point about how much credit he deserves for making a historical film in which we know the outcome suspenseful and intense.