valkyrie

in this film tom cruise plays a nazi. but hes a good nazi! after being injured in battle, loosing his hand, his eye, and other parts from an explosion, he decides its time to stand up against hitler. he, and a few others, feel that hitler is giving germany a bad name and feel that they must act against him. this leads to a plot to assassinate hitler. they make plans and have everything all set to go, but as the event unfolds, things keep going wrong.
one might think that the thrill and tension of this story would not really exist, due to the fact that we know from history that they fail. well, we also knew the titanic was going to sink, but the movie was still a lot of fun to watch. its not the results that make it a good story, rather the path that let them there. bryan singer does a great job of keeping the tension high and showing us how something planned so well can fall apart so quickly. tom cruise gives a fine performance as the ring leader of this plan. cruise usually plays the same character: someone who is great at something who looses it all and must rebuild himself better than ever (need an example? try watching every single movie tom cruise has been in...) but in this one, he doesnt allow himself or his persona to get in the way. this is a good movie with some great casting that shows some pretty cool world war II thrills.