Tom Cruise’s new film ‘Valkyrie’, which opens Thursday at Bay Area theaters, is a real conspiracy suspense thriller, telling the story of a German national hero -  Col. Claus von Stauffenberg - whose actions serve as an eternal testament that many Germans did not support Hitler.

Directed by Bryan Singer, the film has Cruise playing Col. Stauffenberg who was at the center of a plot by German generals to assassinate Hitler, take over the government and surrender to the Allied forces during World War II. The cast of other generals includes Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Terrence Stamp.

The World War II thriller – in which Cruise wears a Nazi uniform and an eye patch to play Col. Stauffenberg – is a sleek and taut presentation, with a flagrant undercurrent excitement of “Whoa, did this really happen?”

Talking about the film, Singer said while people know that Hitler didn’t die by an assassin’s hand, that particular fact didn’t get in the way of creating suspense. He added: “For most people, they don’t quite know the ending of this particular story. The plot was much more than just an attempt on Hitler’s life; there was an actual attempt to take over the entire Nazi government.” So, there are some surprises in store!

The production of ‘Valkyrie’ is a high-profile gamble for Cruise, and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, who took over United Artists in 2006. Cruise has applied his famous work ethic to the new film’s accuracy - predominantly important when tackling a subject so important to a nation.

Cruise, who always puts a lot of stock in test screenings, passed the true test for ‘Valkyrie’ when the first German audiences had a look at the film, and their response, as Cruise puts it, was “Incredible. Incredible.”