MSNBC's The Scoop and New York Times has some very unsettling reactions to a “Valkyrie” screening. The thriller, directed by Bryan Singer, sees Tom Cruise‘s Claus Von Stauffenberg attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany during WWII.
According to people from the test audience the film is far from being a thriller. But reportedly worse seems to be Tom Cruise's performance as Claus Von Stauffenberg even going as far as saying his performance elicits inappropriate laughs.
MSNBC quotes various reports:
A scene where Cruise's character, Claus Von Stauffenberg, is forced to give the infamous “Heil Hitler” salute. “It's an unsettling scene but you almost start to laugh,” the source says. “His character is resisting it but you never forget it's Tom Cruise saying ‘Heil Hitler.' It's funny and shocking at the same time.”
Another described a scene where Cruise's character removes a false eye.
“It was disgusting,” said another who saw the film. “It was like watching someone pluck their contacts out. The film just isn't a thriller at all. It's a bunch of white guys in Nazi uniforms. It's too bad. And Tom doesn't speak with a German accent, though they did add a voice-over of him speaking German to the beginning of the film. Still, it's as if he could say ‘I complete you' at any time. This is not his Oscar moment.”
Is it possible Valkyrie is still the steaming pile we thought it once was? Will Tom Cruise have the worst movie with a coveted pre-Oscar release date?
“Valkyrie” opens to theaters on December 26th.
Valkyrie poster
let us, the germans, do the nazi movies. although there are already enough of them but we know how to make them.
This movie, created by hollywood, with tom cruise in the main role, can’t be anything than ridiculous
I enjoyed the movie, beautifully filmed, I was distracted by the British accents spoken by the Nazi’s; some of them had German English accents, some of them had American English accents(what there wasn’t enough money to get them to speak English with a German accent?)—I understand we don’t want subtitles…and I got the transition from German to English in the beginning but I think they could have done better with the accent thing. Hitler could not have been that much of a pussy even that late in the war as depicted in this film…having said all that I love war movies ( Band of Brothers my favorite in the last 10) and i’m glad we saw this one.
PS Tom Cruise is clinically crazy.