Good Movie, questionable history

Rating: 6/10 (7 June 2009)

I really did like this movie in that it was a good story, well told. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise's reputation for being, well, cuckoo for coco-puffs detracted from the actual quality of the work he did here.
The history is questionable. The conspirators are shown as guys who were horrified at what Hitler was doing, which is bunk. Most of them had no problem with the war when Germany was winning. It's when Germany started losing they started growing a backbone. Von Stauffenburg was no exception.
Now, all that said, the pacing is pretty good. Even being fairly familiar with the story, the pacing and suspense kept me going. They did a good job creating this world (for instance, how much hinged on vintage 1940's style communications).
the Supporting characters were quite good. even the actor who played Hitler avoided ranting cliché that most movies portrayed him as and showed him as somewhat charismatic with a politician's gift.