Comments on: Tom Cruise's 'Valkyrie' Release Delayed

By: nonhollywood man

nonhollywood man — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:20:33 +0000

To anyone thinking this will be a hit, it’s opening on February 13, nobody is going to say, “Honey, it’s Valentine’s Day let’s go see the Tom Cruise Nazi movie.” Nothing puts people in the romantic mood like Nazis and failed Hitler assassination attempts.

By: Eewk

Eewk — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:04:38 +0000

To “Can’t Take It Anymore”: Please reread what I wrote about the premise of the film or “what SHOULD BE the premise given the true historical facts” (emphasis added). In other words, if the script does in fact omit any mention of the religious convictions that were motivating von Stauffenberg, as well as the moral dilemma facing him in having to commit murder, well then Messrs. Cruise, Singer and whoever the credited screenwriters turn out to be have simply gutted a great historical event of its reason for occurring. And if that’s the case, then down deep the movie may turn out to be shallow. But for now, though, I’m still prepared to cut Messrs. Cruise, Singer, and the rest some slack because it is possible that they may have been able to dramatise the moral dilemma von Stauffenberg was facing without reference to his Christianity (something Mr. Cruise, as a fallen away Roman Catholic, may not personally want to cast in a favorable light). If it turns out that the film makers have even gutted the movie of this moral dilemma and replaced it with something along the lines of, “We’re losing the war so Hitler’s got to go”, then the film makers deserve to be completely and utterly scorned and I’ll be first in line to throw verbal brickbats at them.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:25:32 +0000

I’m mostly curious about Bryan Singer’s fascination with Nazis. Anyone have the over/under on how many Nazi pictures Singer is going to make in his career?
If this one bombs my bet is 2.

By: Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:19:05 +0000

But does he dance in his tighty whities?

By: Can't Take it Anymore

Can't Take it Anymore — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:30:17 +0000

Eewk, to show how clueless you are, the script for Valkyrie doesn’t even mention Cruise’s character’s religion.

By: Eewk

Eewk — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:35:10 +0000

To respond to “Layne”, as much as I personally may not care much for Tom Cruise because of his Scientology beliefs (Boy, if you want to talk about a bizarre, wacky creed and set of beliefs, well, that’s another blog), I’m planning to cut Tom Cruise some slack in this instance because the “premise” of this film — or at least what should be the premise given the true historical facts — makes for great drama: Imagine a devoutly Christian man who literally has taken an oath before God (as all German officers were required to do at some point) to obey to the letter and spirit all orders from his superior officers — with his ultimate military superior being a completely ungodly man who, facing complete and utter defeat, is prepared to take all of Germany and the lives of millions of men, women, and children down with him. Makes for conflict doesn’t it? And makes for conflict, doesn’t it, that this same devoutly Christian man struggles in his heart with knowing that he has to commit the truly great sin of murder to stop even more and greater sins? So — sounds to me that this was a gutsy but good thing for Mr. Cruise to take a roll of the dice on.

By: Layne

Layne — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:05:08 +0000

Am I crazy or does this sound like the most ridiculous premise for a film ever?

Why in the world would anyone spend $90 MILLION, Cruise or no Cruise, on a film about a historical figure plotting to assassinate a dictator that everybody knows committed suicide?

….Not quite sure why a studio would greenlight a film centered around failure. Would you make a film about attempts on Lincoln’s life pre-Fords Theater? This is just silly.

Regardless of the release date, I’m World War II’d out–and I think “Max” (with John Cusack) from several years back pushed the Nazi What If? genre about as far as it could…

By: Eewk

Eewk — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:38:12 +0000

Just for the sake of a little more accuracy: Tom Cruise is not wearing a Gestapo uniform in the picture on DHD. It is supposed to be a standard German officer’s uniform from World War II with the claret-red stripe on the pants indicating the officer has been posted to The General Staff. Actually, though, the “field gray” shade of the uniform Tom Cruise is wearing is too light in comparison to the real thing and the pants were almost always matching to the tunic and very, very rarely were black. Finally, a small correction for “Can’t Take It Anymore”: Tom Cruise is not playing a Nazi. The character he is playing, Colonel Count Klaus Philip Schenk von Stauffenberg, was a devout Roman Catholic who was utterly repelled and sickened by Nazi ideology. Von Stauffenberg was one of the leaders (but not THE leader) of the last group of military officers and civilians who attempted to asassainate Hitler. Their attempt came closest to success but there were at least 6 other serious attempts by others. So — not every German by any means was a Nazi back then,

By: JJohnohn

JJohnohn — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:52:42 +0000

Wolfman & PinkPanther…sounds like Valkyrie would be in good company…but, instead of a President’s Day weekend of $150m, realistically, no-talent Cruise, Hitler and no other name actors (Cruise hates the talent competish) $1m @ 1500 theaters is far more likely…in other words, another bomb (pun intended…)

By: Francine Fishpaw

Francine Fishpaw — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:57:56 +0000

The problem with the movie is that Tom Cruise doesn’t have the gravitas to pull off this role. Anyone remember his laughable performance in Taps when he was also dressed up in miltary wear? He comes off too much like a little boy wearing his grandpa’s military duds. He lacks any kind of authority so him playing this kind of role is why everyone who’s seen it says it’s pure camp.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:58:50 +0000

If anything, that list shows I was right hotshot - a great variety of genres can open big on that weekend.

Thanks for making my point.

By: Can't Take it Anymore

Can't Take it Anymore — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:13:33 +0000

‘German Cruise’: What the hell are you blabbing about? Do you mean the ‘new’ trailer that was released 5 months ago with Lions for Lambs?

By: start here

start here — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:47:08 +0000

Dear Jason,

Is Valkyrie a RomCom? Is it Science Fiction?

Dumped!

Please do your own research before suggesting it to others.

By: Can't Take it Anymore

Can't Take it Anymore — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:11:24 +0000

Yeah, but the problem is that a movie with Tom Cruise playing a Nazi isn’t exactly date material. Sure, it’s President’s Day weekend, but it’s also VALENTINE’S DAY weekend. I know if my husband said, “Hey, honey, let’s go see a movie about Nazis trying to kill Hitler” on Valentine’s Day, I’d divorce him…

By: German Cruise

German Cruise — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:40:55 +0000

The newly released trailer is great. I hope they pull this off and market it correctly. The only downside is that a February release almost guarantees it won’t be considered for any awards, even if it deserves to be.