Valkyrie

What’s the Story?

In 1943, wounded German officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) comes home from service in Africa to serve in the Ministry of Defense in Berlin. There, a secret cabal of officers, civic leaders, and ex-military men inducts him into a secret plot to not only seize control of the German government, but also to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler. As the advancing Allies come closer and closer to Berlin, von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators must act boldly without being discovered, risking certain death against the possibility that Germany might be released from the yoke of Nazi rule.

Is It Any Good?

Directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns), VALKYRIE turns a lesser-known historical footnote into a gripping, well-executed thriller. Cruise is surrounded by a terrific cast (including Kenneth Branagh, Terrence Stamp, and Bill Nighy) as his co-conspirators, while Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson plays a military commander trying to play both sides. After years of seeing German officers presented as bad guys in films, wrapping your head around the concept of German military men opposed to Hitler and his rule -- so opposed that they're willing to risk their lives and those of everyone they know -- is a tricky challenge.

Cruise is easy to watch -- von Stauffenberg is a cool customer constantly in danger of having the situation explode in his face -- but the real star of the film is Singer's superbly executed direction and engaging technical skill. Aided by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander's screenplay, Singer pulls an unexpected amount of suspense out of a story with a foregone conclusion; we know the conspirators didn't succeed. But there's plenty of tension to be found in showing how they tried -- and exactly how they failed. Valkyrie is a remarkably well-crafted thriller with plenty of food for thought between the explosions and ticking-clock suspense.