In “Valkyrie,” the latest Hollywood film to delve into Nazi Germany, the Jews are almost entirely absent. There is a brief mention of the concentration camps, and that’s about it. A moralist might find this an outrage, but a moviegoer, especially one exhausted by grim dramas about the Holocaust, may feel relief.

Based on a true story, “Valkyrie” aims to be a thriller, not an issues movie, and it succeeds. Tom Cruise, sporting an eyepatch and an aristocratic curl in his forelocks, plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an officer who discovers he’s not the only one with thoughts of eliminating Der Führer. With the backing of an expansive web of resisters – from typists to generals – Stauffenberg hatches a plan to take Germany by coup. Step one: Bring a briefcase full of explosives to a meeting with Hitler.

It’s probably no spoiler to say the plan doesn’t work. The fun, if that’s the right word, lies in seeing how tantalizingly close the dominoes come to falling in just the right way.

Thanks to crisp direction from Bryan Singer and a terse, efficient script from Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, “Valkyrie” recalls one of Shakespeare’s wonkier plays – say, “Richard II” – as the best-laid plans of high-placed men lead inevitably to disaster. And the impeccable supporting cast, particularly Tom Wilkinson as a careerist general who cleverly hedges his bets, breathes life into numerous small but important roles.

As Stauffenberg, Cruise makes for a good-looking martyr, but it’s the larger story that fascinates. Here is a parallel group of Nazis-within-the-Nazis, operating almost openly while others nervously turn a blind eye. “Valkyrie” includes no sermons about genocide or anti-Semitism; these resisters are concerned with the fate of the Fatherland. In that aspect, they’re underdogs worth rooting for.

BOTTOM LINE An engaging dramatization of one of history’s footnotes, with excellent performances from the supporting cast.

(Source: Newsday)