A gripping thriller which maintains a high level of tension and foreboding throughout

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2015)

A largely historically accurate account of the failed 20 July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, this is a very effective thriller which maintains a high level of tension and foreboding throughout. The very good script by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander has a nice eye for historical detail and respects the audience's intelligence while Bryan Singer directs the film with his usual flair. At 1 hour and 50 minutes, the film is not especially long and it rollicks along at a very brisk pace.
Tom Cruise is a modern day John Wayne in that he is a great film star as opposed to a great actor but he is perfectly fine as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a man of great courage, honour and resourcefulness who is recruited into the German Resistance in 1943 and becomes one of the leading figures in the plot to save Germany from Nazism. Even before the war, von Stauffenberg was dubious of the Nazis and these feelings became more pronounced as he learned of their atrocities. He is able to cut through the constant arguments that are besetting his co-conspirators and convinces them of the necessity of cutting off the snake's head rather than attacking its tail. He has a clarity of vision which makes him the perfect person to lead the operation. His assumption that Hitler has been killed in the explosion at the Wolf's Lair is based not on wishful thinking but on a reasoned and perfectly logical conclusion based on the evidence that he could not have survived, though one which unfortunately turned out to be incorrect.
Although he is credited second, Kenneth Branagh has little more than a glorified cameo as General Henning von Tresckow but he is extremely good in the role. Bill Nighy gives the best performance in the film as General Friedrich Olbricht, whose neurotic behaviour and indecision causes many problems for the Resistance. In spite of this, he is depicted as a good man but one who would probably not have been allowed to play such a significant role in the plot due to his unsuitable personal traits if the Resistance had had more options at their disposal. Tom Wilkinson is excellent as the "careerist pig" Friedrich Fromm who becomes involved in the plot out of love for himself rather than out of hatred for the Nazis. Kevin McNally is suitably unctuous as Carl Goerdeler, a more antagonistic figure in the film than in reality who would have become Chancellor of Germany had the plot succeeded. Terence Stamp brings a great deal of quiet dignity to the role of the would-be President Ludwig Beck, who displays great wisdom and integrity in all of his scenes.
Out of the supporting cast, I was very impressed by David Bamber as Hitler (who, wisely, is kept off-screen for the most of the film, making only brief appearances), Jamie Parker as Lt. von Haeften, Carice von Houten as von Stauffenberg's wife Nina (who died only two and a half years before the film was released), Thomas Kretschmann as Otto Remer (an infamous postwar Holocaust denier), Christian Berkel as Colonel von Quirnheim, Kenneth Cranham as Field Marshal Keitel and Tom Hollander as Colonel Brandt, a major thorn in the conspirators' side for most of the film who unwittingly saved Hitler's life at the cost of his own when he moved the briefcase containing the bomb. It also features nice small appearances by Bernard Hill, Danny Webb, Chris Larkin, David Schofield and Ian McNeice. However, I thought that Eddie Izzard was a very odd choice for Fellgiebel, though he does try his best.
The aborted 15 July attempt on Hitler's life is not depicted in an entirely accurate fashion but, had it been carried out then, it may have had a better chance of success. I can't help but wonder how the Allies would have reacted if the plot had been successful in assassinating Hitler. I'd be interested in reading an alternate history novel on the subject. The use of Operation Valkyrie to seize control of the government was a brilliant idea which could very well have worked if Hitler had been killed. I thought that the film did a very good job of portraying the confusion that plagued both sides in the hours after the bomb was detonated, particularly as regards whether Hitler was alive or dead. He was basically Schrödinger's Führer!
Overall, this is a gripping thriller which depicted the events surrounding the 20 July plot and the individuals who laid down their lives to enact it with a great deal of admiration and respect.