Valkyrie (12A)

THE plot hatched by German generals to blow up Hitler is a story most are aware of without knowing the details. Like the fact that the main conspirator was Tom Cruise in an eyepatch. And that most of the German military actually consisted of British actors including Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Toms Wilkinson and Hollander, and Eddie Izzard (thankfully abandoning his crossdressing on this occasion).

The Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer gets serious to tell the story of Colonel Stauffenberg (that’s Cruise) and his German chums in their bid to rid the country of the Fuhrer.

Stauffenberg is first seen being wounded, losing an eye, a hand and several other fingers. No matter, he’s the one who carries the brief case containing the bomb into the meeting with Hitler.

As the outcome is known by all the audience – Hitler wasn’t killed, remember? – any tension must rest with the aftermath as the conspirators carry on with their plan by telling everyone that the leader is dead.

Faced with a film that’s virtually all talk and no action – only that brief attack at the start and a spot of gunplay in the corridors later on – Singer really should have ensured that his characters were more interesting. Background information is denied us, apart from Cruise showing some concern about the fate of his wife and children, and so we don’t care what happens to any of them. Cruise looks as determined as a man wearing an eyepatch can as the ringleader who keeps his cool when things go wrong.

Others, such as Nighy’s commander, tend to go to pieces.

As Corporal Jones would have told him: “Don’t panic.”