Tom Cruise may finally get the Best Actor Oscar he’s always wanted for his staring role in Valkyrie about a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The Hollywood A-Lister has been given a lot of criticism recently over his private life and his last major role as a US Senator in Robert Redford's dull War on Terror political drama Lions for Lambs went almost unnoticed. There is a lot of pressure for his turn as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg to be a success, and with a high class cast and crew around him he could very well be clutching a Golden statue come 2009.

Suspense Thriller Valkyrie centres on von Stauffenberg – a loyal Nazi officer who loves and serves his country but hopes someone will be able to stop Hitler before Europe and Germany are destroyed. When he realises Hitler is in a worryingly powerful position, he decides to join the German resistance armed with a plan to use the Fuhrer’s own emergency plan, known as Operation Valkyrie, to kill the dictator and overthrow his government from the inside.

With the uniting of director Bryan Singer and his Oscar-winning Usual Suspect writer Christopher McQuarrie, Valkyrie has a solid base to work from. Singer’s recent work on the comic book blockbusters X-Men, X2 and Superman Returns means he gets the chance to return to a more serious filmic tone which worked wonders on The Usual Suspects. McQuarrie has been absent from Hollywood since the lukewarm reception to The Way of The Gun in 2000, so this gives him the chance to get a career reboot much like Cruise. Joining them is a top draw cast including Kenneth Branagh (Henry V), Bill Nighy (Love actually), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Carice van Houten (Black Book), Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted), Eddie Izzard (Oceans Twelve) and Terence Stamp (The Limey). This is just the kind of talent who might be expected to line up for an Oscar contender, and though the film is shot in English, every effort has been made to make it as authentic as possible.

Despite the display of swastikas being illegal in Germany, they were used and charges were brought against the owners of the filming sites. The filmmakers were also given access to the historic Bendler Block, part of what was once the diplomatic quarter of Berlin, but only after pressure from Cruise and scriptwriter McQuarrie. The trailer suggests much has been done to ensure this is a serious movie with a strong moral centre: exactly the type of work Cruise needs right now. Early reviews have come back with a mixture of criticism and praise of Cruise’s performance, he’ll be under even closer inspection when Valkyrie hits cinemas in the States ahead of its UK release.