Reel Critic:

Many people in the general population are still quite familiar with the details of World War II, and it has been a popular subject of books and films since hostilities concluded more than 60 years ago. And it is no secret that a failed attempt was made on the life of Adolf Hitler by career staff officers who feared for the future of Germany if Hitler was allowed to remain at the helm.

Much of the pre-release scuttlebutt of “Valkyrie” seen in print questioned that the suspense necessary to properly tell this tale would be sabotaged and that the film would be doomed to spend its abbreviated days as a tepid thriller teasing half-empty theaters. Nothing could be further from the truth. “Valkyrie” is as tense and suspenseful as any film that has been released in the past few years.

“Valkyrie” is a success because it is driven by an excellent cast and a screenplay that calls for just the right amount of war scenes necessary to punctuate the serious stillness of the whispering conspirators who keep the suspense at terror pitch throughout.

Tom Cruise has done an excellent job as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, who joins the conspiracy after returning from Africa minus an eye and his right hand. Cruise has overcome his “pretty boy” reputation to play the relentless and hard-boiled von Stauffenberg, who applies the right amount of pressure to keep the plot in place.

David Bamber, a British actor, has the role of Hitler, and captures the addled essence of what has become Der Fuhrer. Bamber does well to convince the audience that Hitler by 1944 had become a cocaine-riddled train wreck exploding in anger one moment, then cowering like a deer in the headlights the next.

Tom Hollander as the sniveling Col. Brandt and Kenneth Branagh as the overconfident Maj. Gen. von Tresckow add to the mix of officers who committed to the plot, but it is the image of Cruise in Nazi salute with his right arm extended and his stump exposed that I will remember for some time.

“Valkyrie” is an excellent thriller that manipulates the audience quite handily for most of the two-hour running time. “Vlkyrie” is rated PG-13 for violence and brief strong language.

?JEFF KLEMZAK of La Crescen- ta has been a film fan for years.