Tom Cruise’s account of the July 20 conspiracy to kill Hitler was plagued with as many problems as the plot itself. Originally scheduled for last July, it has only finally reached the screen after shooting problems and some re-working. The biggest hoo-hah came about because the German government initially refused screening permission on account of Cruise’s membership of the Church of Scientology, which they consider a cult.

Maybe the Germans realised that, much as the Scientology world meeting might remind them of a rather unfortunate period in their history (type “Goebbels Tom Cruise” into YouTube to see what I mean), this is a pretty pro-German story. The tale begins in Tunisia, where a disillusioned Claus von Stauffenberg is strafed by what look like American Mustangs (admittedly hardly a major American re-writing of history, but for the record Stauffenberg was injured by the RAF).

Meanwhile, on the eastern front Major-General Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh) leaves a bomb disguised as a bottle of brandy on the Führer’s plane, only to find that out that it fails to go off (probably because it was too cold in the hold). He successfully retrieves the box in Berlin, but the plotters realise they need someone closer to Hitler. They turn to Stauffenberg, now missing one hand, two fingers and an eye, and bitterly handing out medals to his even worse-off men.

They debate the necessity of killing Hitler. After all, as one of them points out, the Allies will beat Germany fairly soon. On the other hand, the war is consuming 20,000 people a day by this stage and, as Tresckow says, unless they act people will always think the Germans are Nazis and “this will always be Hitler’s Germany”.

I feared the film would be full of ahistorical democratic schmalz, and that Stauffenberg would tell his fellow conspirators about his dream of “a free, democratic Germany where every man is equal, where gay marriages are legal and our army isn’t allowed out after dark”. There is none of that, although they also, apart from a brief prayer, omit his Catholicism.

Stauffenberg stumbles upon an idea while at home with his family listening to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. “Valkyrie” was the Reich’s emergency plan in the event of civil unrest, named after Die Walküre, the second of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s masterpiece The Ring of the Nibelung.

Hitler signs the order, pointing out that “one cannot understand National Socialism if one does not understand Wagner”, turning the Nazi camp up to full blast.

The plot gathers pace – the first attempt is aborted at the last minute because Himmler is absent. Desperate, and with rumours circulating that the Gestapo are closing in, Stauffenberg goes through with it on July 20. However, because it is a hot day the meeting is moved from the bunker to an airy outdoor room, reducing the impact of the blast. One of the generals at the table moves the attaché case behind a table leg. Stauffenberg fails to detonate the second, reserve bomb, which almost certainly would have done the job.

Meanwhile, the coup is hampered by the indecision of the plotters and nervous waverers all bank on the devil they know – the arresting officer coming for Goebbels, the man in charge of the telephone exchange, General Fromm.

Valkyrie is really quite good. Admittedly, Tom Cruise is not really playing Stauffenberg, but Tom Cruise. This is an account of what would have happened had Tom Cruise been a colonel in the Wehrmacht, but nevertheless it’s an enjoyable one.

It helps that Cruise is supported by a very strong British cast. British actors are the best in the world at playing Nazis – better even than the Germans. Branagh and Bill Nighy take the roles of the military leaders of the plot, while Terence Stamp and Kevin McNally play the politicians, and Tom Wilkinson plays Fromm, the fair-weather plotter who turns a blind eye.

There are also a few roles bringing down Germany’s unemployment rates: Christian Berkel plays Colonel von Quirnheim, the explosives expert. Berkel also appeared in two previous World War films, Downfall and Black Book. Two of his fellow Black Book actors appear here and I spotted at least one from Downfall.

The portrayals of Hitler, Goebbels and the inner circle are a bit weaker, but maybe after the seminal Downfall, and Bruno Ganz’s performance, Hitler should be retired as a character.

That is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie are old friends, and used to make World War II home movies as teenagers. Singer directed the X-Men film and the last Superman movie and it would not be unfair to say Valkyrie has a somewhat comic book feel – it’s all dramatic music and stylish black Mercedes, and their version of the Wolf’s Lair owes something to Darth Vader’s headquarters in Star Wars. That’s no coincidence, since McQuarrie has relied heavily on William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a book which George Lucas read before writing Star Wars so that he could understand political evil in its purest form.

This may be no Downfall, but as boy’s films go it’s an enjoyable tragedy.