10 Incredible War Movies About Doomed Missions

Serving as one of the most underrated war movies of the 2000s, Bryan Singer's Valkyrie is based on the infamous 20 July plot - an attempted 1944 coup devised by high-ranking German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the country.

Boasting a star-studded cast spearheaded by Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the war thriller was subject to a fair amount of controversy prior to release in light of an American actor playing a German soldier.

Fortunately, many concerns were largely banished swiftly after the film debuted in 2008. While some critics argued that Valkyrie failed to take full advantage of its thrilling central premise, Singer's film still earned high praise for its polished cinematography and gripping narrative, as well as Cruise's typically charismatic leading bow.

Regrettably, things didn't end as well for the real-life historical figures who inspired the movie. The plot to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb in the Wolf's Lair failed after he was inadvertently shielded from the blast by a table leg. With the botched assassination sounding the death knell for any hopes of overthrowing the Nazi regime from within, Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were rounded up and executed shortly afterwards.