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so along with sharing the name of a unit from SC (come on, the connection was inevitable), i had seen trailers for this movie and just saw it tonight. first let me say i wasnt expecting it to be a nice christmas movie, but boy this was heavy stuff. it got mixed reviews from critics cast, script, and story-wise, but i thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. i felt it was well-acted, well-written, and well-portrayed, and left me feeling... well, its hard to call it a spoiler because the historical outcome is pretty obvious, but ill keep my feelings to myself regardless.
anyways, the premise, taken from wikipedia:
+ Show Spoiler +Based on a true story.
During World War II, German Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) is severely wounded in Africa, and returns home to Nazi Germany. Stauffenberg helps conceive Operation Valkyrie, a plan approved by Adolf Hitler which, in order to manage turmoil within Germany, would implement a shadow government in the event of the Nazi Führer's death.
The Colonel eventually joins the German Resistance and becomes part of the July 20 plot, a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and execute Valkyrie in order to take control of the country and make peace with the Allies. Stauffenberg finds himself taking on not only the responsibility of leading the coup, but also the task to assassinate Hitler himself, a plot, that if fails, could have deadly consequences for Stauffenberg, his family, and the other members of the coup.
any thoughts from others who saw this? i dont know about any oscars, but i really thought this movie was well done.
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Just watched it a few hours ago. I highly doubt it will win any awards. I mean it was a good movie, but not great. It lacks appeal to a wide audience and is slow (which will turn off some movie-goers). I personally liked it because of it's history.
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I don't understand why they cast Tom Cruise as the lead, and more so why did he have an American accent.
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United States24343 Posts
My mom saw it today and she has a pretty good ability to judge what the average movie goer will like. She liked it so I'll consider seeing it at some point.
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Everyone I know who saw it said Tom Cruise completely ruined it.
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Tom Cruise was horribly miscast for this role
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Tom Cruise wishes to portray himself as a versatile and talented actor; fails, bringing down what could otherwise have been a great movie.
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Besides Tom ruining it, was it worth the 10 bux?
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I really like these types of movies, but I'm guessing this isn't a movie you'd watch with a girl? confirm/deny
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United States13896 Posts
Just saw a tv spot with a quote calling it the "best suspense thriller of the year"
REALLY?
REALLY?
+ Show Spoiler +anyone with a basic understanding of world history would know that hitler didn't die in this assassination attempt, and if you know anything about the background of the event then you'd know the lead (von Stauffenberg) is going to die at the end.
So unless they took some liberties with the history behind this story, how in the hell can this be the best suspense thriller of the year?
I guess for the totally ignorant there is some suspense.
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i heard cruise's accent had something to do with not wanting to disrespect hitler or germany or something.
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Austin10831 Posts
It would've been a much better movie with someone else as Stauffenberg.
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Braavos36362 Posts
On December 26 2008 14:03 []p4NDemik[] wrote:Just saw a tv spot with a quote calling it the "best suspense thriller of the year" REALLY? REALLY? + Show Spoiler +anyone with a basic understanding of world history would know that hitler didn't die in this assassination attempt, and if you know anything about the background of the event then you'd know the lead (von Stauffenberg) is going to die at the end.
So unless they took some liberties with the history behind this story, how in the hell can this be the best suspense thriller of the year?
I guess for the totally ignorant there is some suspense. hitler dies in valkyrie...
that's the twist ending
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Austin10831 Posts
On December 26 2008 14:03 []p4NDemik[] wrote:Just saw a tv spot with a quote calling it the "best suspense thriller of the year" REALLY? REALLY? + Show Spoiler +anyone with a basic understanding of world history would know that hitler didn't die in this assassination attempt, and if you know anything about the background of the event then you'd know the lead (von Stauffenberg) is going to die at the end.
So unless they took some liberties with the history behind this story, how in the hell can this be the best suspense thriller of the year?
I guess for the totally ignorant there is some suspense.
Yes, the same way that anyone with a basic understanding of film would know that suspense has very little to do with knowing what happens.
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Roger Ebert said Tom Cruise was really good - I haven't seen the movie yet, so I dunno O_O;
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On December 26 2008 13:28 Alethios wrote: Tom Cruise wishes to portray himself as a versatile and talented actor; fails, bringing down what could otherwise have been a great movie.
On December 26 2008 13:24 NoobsOfWrath wrote: Tom Cruise was horribly miscast for this role
On December 26 2008 13:17 KissBlade wrote: Everyone I know who saw it said Tom Cruise completely ruined it.
any of you guys saw it?
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I like tom cruise as an actor, so i'll probably watch this.
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Funny how Ebert included a mini rant in his review of this movie:
"Tom Cruise is perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying, in the leading role. I'm at a loss to explain the blizzard of negative advance buzz fired at him for the effrontery of playing a half-blind, one-armed Nazi hero. Two factors may be to blame: (a) Cruise has attracted so much publicity by some of his own behavior (using Oprah's couch as a trampoline) that anything he does sincerely seems fair game for mockery, and (b) movie publicity is now driven by gossip, scandal and the eagerness of fanboys and girls to attract attention by posing as critics of movies they've almost certainly not seen. Now that the movie is here, the buzz is irrelevant, but may do residual damage."
- seems like some people here are guilty of this! or maybe not, I haven't seen the movie yet.
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yeah, im going to have to agree. before i saw it (which also happened to be before it came out) i heard a lot of negative reviews regarding cruise and his performance, each having their own take, ranging from offensive to down-right bad acting. honestly--though like i said in the OP, hes not going to be winning an oscar for this performance--i felt that cruise performed solidly. i dont see how anyone could consider the performance offensive, with the exception of his lack of an accent, which i would also think was discussed with some rigor by the production staff. also, im going to guess that a lot of viewers had the same reaction as Stauffenberg's son (and the political ministry of germany); they initially rejected the filming of the movie in germany because cruise would be playing the star, but upon review they both agreed that their reaction was biased and uncalled for. also, im going to say that any of cruise's "bad" acting was easily made up for by the rest of the cast.... this was one of the strongest supporting casts ive seen in a movie in recent memory.
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plan on seeing it. Heard nothing but good things well except for the cruise haters so I have to find out for myself
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