Munich

I’m giving this a very questionable four stars. Unfortunately, Spielberg has grown up and the emotional flatness and academic coldness that could be excused in his War of the Worlds cannot be forgiven in Munich. War of the Worlds worked perfectly as a pure horror movie that delivered amazement and chills through its technical aspects. Munich is an attempt to inventively examine serious issues for which supreme technical precision is not enough. Therefore, only one thing in this long film really works, namely the naturalistically cold-blooded murders, especially that of the female assassin on the boat. Some may argue that Munich didn’t appeal to me because the Muslim-Jewish conflict is beyond me, but I’m not Jewish and Schindler’s List is one of my top ten favorite films. Because it has a huge heart. (03/14/2006)

"Israel has lost her son" some Israeli leaders bitterly declared about Spielberg. What got them so riled up? Although Munich is first and foremost a suspenseful spy thriller, Spielberg is no longer just someone who has E.T. saying "Go home" and Indy wielding his whip for the audience's pleasure, now he also wants to comment on the world's ills, both historical (Schindler's List) and current ones, such as the pressing Israeli-Palestinian issue. When he says through the character of Robert: “All of this blood comes back to us,” or when Avner, in Eric Bana's convincing performance, says “Did we accomplish anything at all? Every man we killed has been replaced by worse. There's no peace at the end of this no matter what you believe.", perhaps this is Spielberg voicing his own opinion, and I believe this was hard for Israeli leaders to listen to (but to be clear, I'm on their side). Politics aside, what's left? Above all, a masterfully directed thriller that captivates with perfect filmmaking (I would highlight the precise set design with a perfect 70s atmosphere), is free of pathos, which has always been a sore point of Spielberg's serious films, and in several scenes proves that this overgrown child can shock properly (I don’t think I’ll forget the harsh naturalistic scene of the killing the Dutch murderess). Munich may not have as deep an emotional impact as Schindler's List or Amistad, but it is a piece of attractive, honest filmmaking that wants to say something, and it says that something in a highly attractive way. To miss it would be a mistake. (04/02/2006)

I'm beginning to get the impression that in the last two years Spielberg has finally fully matured. The sweet happy endings have disappeared together with the sentimentality, and the family atmosphere perfumed with popcorn is definitively gone as well. However, Munich did not resonate with me as much despite all its seriousness and undeniable power. Technically, it is absolutely polished, but it is as cold as ice, and that is something I am not willing to tolerate. Eric Bana is excellent, and the screenplay is flawless, but the story is presented in such an uninteresting form that it is difficult to empathize with the characters and immerse yourself in their world of terrorists and espionage. The action is brutal, cold, and in certain aspects reminiscent of, for example, Schindler's List. Technically, it is traditionally perfect with brilliant lighting and overall arrangement of the mise-en-scène. My only criticisms relate to occasional confusion and lack of emotions, two flaws in its beauty, two stars down. (07/06/2006)

On the advice of a mysterious French family organization, Mossad assassins head to London in search of their target, the leader of the Palestinian Black September movement. There, however, the assassination is thwarted by undercover CIA agents guarding the leader in exchange for not attacking American diplomats. Later that evening, one of the assassins is killed by a Dutch assassin, apparently hired by the Palestine Liberation Front. God, I love the '70s! I find Munich (like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List) the perfect motif on which to pair Spielberg's choreography with Kaminski's experimentation. The numerous scenes and their detailed composition here create a view of a Europe riddled with agents meeting in restaurants, markets, and bars, where everyone has a purpose and takes a side. Even with this simplification and aesthetic stylization, Munich is a first-rate spy genre film (the spy team is like something out of a game) where almost every sequence is carefully crafted and has its own visual attributes. The risk of sentimental idiocy is condensed here to just one scene in which a sweaty Eric Bana has sex with a terrorist (I would have been so uncomfortable in the cinema), the rest is still Spielberg full of energy and ideas. Given the way the film looks and tells the story, it still more than anything creates the illusion that the world was the most interesting when it was the most dangerous. (02/04/2022)

This matador of a director wins on all fronts. Whether he's making Eric Bana cry on the phone or serving up a team that shoots at anything that comes their way. Some rough scenes I wouldn't have expected from him, even though I already know from other wars what he's capable of. Steven Spielberg simply doesn't hold back from diving into historical issues, this time ones that also affect the present. And he has successfully completed his mission brilliantly as never before. (07/08/2006)