History YMMV / Valkyrie

* HilariousInHindsight: David Bamber (Hitler) and Creator/TomHollander (Brandt) both played Mr. Collins in adaptations of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' (1995 and 2005, respectively).

* AmericansHateTingle: There was a lot of controversy about Creator/TomCruise playing the role of someone well-respected in Germany for his assassination attempt on Hitler, not helping that this was shortly after his well-known obsession with Scientology and the drama involved. [[DownplayedTrope However this was mostly political complaints, as German filmgoers and directors were more forgiving of the movie and Tom Cruise's role.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: While he definitely executes Stauffenberg and the other traitors within reach to save his own skin, it can be argued he also did it to prevent Hitler from dealing them a worse fate like how Goerdeler was hanged with piano wire. He also permits all of them to be quickly buried with full military honours. It doesn't take long for the SS to dig up their bodies, remove their decorations and cremate them, rendering this null and void.

* {{they wasted a perfectly good character}}: Quite a few prominent members of the plot and affiliated fence straddlers (especially ones who survived the aftermath of the coup, some under rather impressive circumstances) who could have added more color aren’t featured, even ones who were at Stauffenberg's headquarters when the SS came for him, such as Erich Hoeppner, Friedrich Klausing, and Hans-Jurgen von Blumenthal
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* MoralEventHorizon: General Fromm arguably crosses it when he orders Stauffenberg's execution only to cover up his own involvement in the plot to kill Hitler. Though, to be fair, Stauffenberg would have been tortured to death if Fromm had handed him over to the Gestapo.

* [[AmericansHateTingle German Politicians Hate Tom Cruise]]: There was a lot of controversy about Creator/TomCruise playing the role of someone well-respected in Germany for his assassination attempt on Hitler, not helping that this was shortly after his well-known obsession with Scientology and the drama involved. [[DownplayedTrope However this was mostly political complaints, as German filmgoers and directors were more forgiving of the movie and Tom Cruise's role.]]

* ComplexityAddiction: The apparent reason behind the plot's failure. In RealLife, [[LaResistance the military opposition]] had planned ever since the inception of the Valkyrie plot, in chronological order: shoot the Führer at Smolensk (stopped by Field Marshal von Kluge), detonate a bomb hidden in a cognac bottle in his private plane (malfunctioned), detonate a bomb at the display of Russian Army flags at the Berlin Armory (the Führer rushed through and the fuse had no time to engage), [[HeroicSacrifice Axel von dem Bussche's attempt to detonate a bomb hidden in his uniform and die together with Hitler]] (the uniform display got cancelled) and so on.\\
However, Luftwaffe General Karl Koller testified (in front of an American judge after the war) that Stauffenberg and himself often were called to the Führer's study to discuss military issues, alone and carrying their service pistols, [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim simply drawing the pistol and shooting Hitler in the face would have been much quicker and simpler]], even if it assumed [[HeroicSacrifice the perpetrator being shot himself by the guardsmen]] afterwards.

* TearJerker:
** The execution scenes, accompanied by a really powerful melody.
** Stauffenberg flinching as his comrades are shot.
** Haeften standing in front of Stauffenberg, shielding him from the firing squad and giving him his few extra seconds of life as a sign of respect and friendship.
** "I'm thinking of earlier times".

* XPacHeat: TomCruise and [[ChurchOfHappyology his religion]] are disliked, rather than the production values or any historical inaccuracies of the film itself.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Apparently the [[http://www.verbrechen-der-wehrmacht.de/docs/home_e.htm German officer corps actually cared about Jewish people, was disgusted by their slaughter]], and masterminded a plot to assassinate Hitler that would include the closing of [=KZs=]. [[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/GENOCIDE/reviewstr12.htm Never mind Stauffenberg's views of Poland as "an unbelievable rabble" best under the whip, and their country as one filled with "a lot of Jews and a lot of cross-breeds"]].
** The German officer corps, especially the aristocratic elements that made up a fair chunk of it and the plotters, were primarily monarchist and extremely conservative. Tolerant democrats who believed in equality they were ''not''. In many cases, the plotters only turned on Hitler because he was losing the war, and had every intention of fighting on against the Soviet Union.
** They weren't ALL so cynical. Tresckow in particular had genuine moral objections to Hitler and believed the plot had to go forward even if it was doomed to fail just to show that there was a resistance (not surprisingly, the movie includes this).
** The only hint that they "care" about the Jewish people is the fact that they planned to close down the concentration camps. In all honesty, that doesn't really mean they actually "care" about the prisoners. The concentration camps themselves cost Germany a whole lot of money and manpower to maintain. Shutting it down could just be chalked down to prudence and pragmatism. Really, just because somebody has racist views doesn't mean he wants them all killed by their own hands.

* XPacHeat: Much of the {{hatedom}} from this movie appears to stem from dislike of TomCruise and [[ChurchOfHappyology his religion]], rather than the production values or any historical inaccuracies of the film itself.

* [=~Hey, It's That Guy!~=]: EddieIzzard as Gen. Erich Fellgiebel.