Project: Valkyrie (2002) User Reviews

Obviously low-budget but insanely fun splat-fest similar in tone to "Bad Taste."

[goji54 · 7/10 · 19 September 2003]

In an age where overblown, plotless, Hollywood dribble dominates the box-office, a movie like "Project: Valkyrie" is most welcome. Its low budget is evident from the first frame, but this very aspect makes its shortcomings entirely forgivable. There is some bad sound in spots and occasionally some shaky acting, but these elements are par for the course in such films, and any sensible viewer will either ignore them or accept them as part of the fun. Steve Foland is quite enjoyable in his Bruce Campbell-inspired role, but it's the robot, Valkyrie who ultimately steals the show. There's a scene when our heroes are in dire straits, surrounded by monster Nazis and Valkyrie bursts through a door, knocking Mr. Foland's character out in the process. After a brief glance at his fallen comrade, he turns, sword out, to face the bad guys. When I saw this movie in the theater, the entire audience cheered at that point. Such moments are at the core of this movie. It does not matter if the robot is obviously a guy in a suit. We root for him anyway. Highlighting the action are the fantastic special effects by up-and-coming artist Steve Tolin. With very little money and only a few days of preparation, Mr. Tolin whipped up some delightfully disgusting monster masks and managed to fill the frame with enough blood and mangled flesh to satiate any self-respecting gore-hound. The end result of all this is a wacky soup of over-the-top characters, witty dialogue, and hilariously excessive violence that fans of the genre can delight in. "Project: Valkyrie" stands alongside such films as "The Evil Dead" and "Bad Taste" as one of the superior low-budget horror/comedies and is destined to have a loyal cult following. I, for one, am most definitely a part of that following.

OK movie, needed streamlining

[me-17 · 5/10 · 6 January 2008]

Project Valkyrie is a case of a great idea and a so-so execution. The robot has a great appearance- very 1940s. The idea of the Nazis developing some sort of nano-virus is also kind of cool, as is the idea of the creator's grandson finding his grandfather's work in the modern day. Acting is decent for an indie film, and the music is surprisingly good IMHO.

There are plot holes though. The film fails, for instance, to explain what benefit the virus was- other than turning those sprayed into minions. The creatures created surely wouldn't fit Hitler's idea of an 'Übermensch' or a superior human- and they did not appear to have superior strength or other attributes that would have made them super soldiers. A nanite virus that turned the victim into a super strong warrior (perhaps with blond hair and blue eyes) would have been more clever. Nor is it clear why Project Valkyrie would be needed to combat these guys given their lack of superpowers. In fact the US Army with millions of men would have worked better, as one robot couldn't combat an army of these things had they been created.

All in all a good flick, with a great idea that could have been developed further.

c3po's silver brother vs nazi darth maul - the movie

[Krhhmg · 5/10 · 26 January 2020]

"project valkyrie" is an excellent example of a unique and interesting idea resulting in an incoherent and sometimes boring mess. after the death of his grandfather, jimmy inherits this war robot who is actually the star of the movie. strangely enough, he also inherits a virus that turns people into.. well whatever they are, reddish nazi cyborgs? (don't ask me why the deceased didn't just destroy it while he had the chance.) the sister of the nazi leader teams up with jimmy and his allied-forces-bot and sets out to hunt for her rotten brother. there is also some kind of anchorman who appears to have founded a task force against the nazi gang. needless to say, he doesn't end up well. sounds confusing? you bet it is. and if this hadn't been enough there is this obnoxious, completely inappropriate soundtrack that makes one want to turn off sound for a couple of moments. it's not only absolutely annoying in its consistency - at times it is loud enough to drown the dialogues. there is one exception to that: the club scene - probably the best moment in the whole runtime, which could have easily been cut down to 60-70 minutes. with its originality, the costumes and the juicy handmade gore, it is still watchable, and one or two comedic scenes added a handful of laughs.

Fan-damn-tastic

[dark_mullet · 10/10 · 10 September 2004]

This movie is a high quality indie film. It doesn't stout any technological or cinematic achievements, but it does something that many high priced Hollywood films fail at, it's fun. It is overall an extremely enjoyable picture that you'll want to watch again and again (or, at least thrice). It isn't a comedy, but there were quite a few parts where I was in tears of laughter. Steve Foland is awesome in his role, showing very well that he can be a leading man and stand on his own. The cooky robot is also quite neat, but I just wish we had more of the machine. We are able to see some interesting direction from the director, Jeff Waltrowski (Who also makes a cameo). This film seems to be a prelude to something that will be a punch to the kidney's for everyone, Jeff's next movie. Even with the downfalls I give this movie a 10.

DARTH NAZI VS. ROBOT

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 28 May 2019]

It appears the crew had a lot of fun making this film. The movie starts out in black and white from WWII as Dr. Jack Cranston makes a robot to kill Nazis. Now in the present (2002) his grandson Jim is going through his crates and discovers the robot. Meanwhile neo-Nazis are threatening Chicago.

On the plus side, they spent some time making a decent sound track. On the negative side, the movie didn't have a lot of plot and they had to extend scenes needlessly to fill up time. Some of it worked better than others. It worked for the opening credits- somewhat. A man is walking through the streets of Chicago with swagger music that just fit his swagger. The credits flash in between. He enters a elevator and the music stops (elevators normally have music). You think the movie is going to start. Then as he leaves the elevator the music and credits once again start. I liked the cleverness of that aspect, something you must do in low budget films. However, the cleverness wears thin after that. The lack of acting was offset by the dialouge which had some better than usual lines for a low budget.

The movie contained excessive amounts of fake blood, some of which made no sense such as when Jim's head got hit by a foam baseball bat. It wasn't supposed to be foam, but when you can see the bat bend backwards as he goes through the air, it ain't wood. The lead character played by Steve Foland reminded me of a Paul Giamatti that can't act. The movie is campy, but only goes half way.

F-bomb, no sex or nudity.