I looked forward to seeing this movie with Tom Cruise and I was not disappointed. I thought he did a fine job and others seemed surprised that he did as well. I had gotten used to him over the years. I didn't know about the history of the ones that tried to stop Hitler. I was glad that they were trying to do something and it made me proud of them. Unfortunately, of course, they were not able to do anything about it and it was frustrating to watch that process. I think he had to act serious in that in that it was a serious matter. The supporting cast was fine to watch as well. It could be a bit disconcerting to watch some that were not using any German accents as the English do. All in all the repressed emotion that he was showing seemed appropriate.
It seemed to go by the research that they had from the book.