Dir: Steven Spielberg
Tagline: The world was watching in 1972 as 11 Israeli athletes were murdered at the Munich Olympics. This is the story of what happened next.
Rating: **** out of 5 stars
This movie has solidified Eric Bana's place in my mental list of incredible actors. I hated Hulk and I hated Troy (Bana was the best part), still I always liked him. Now I love him thanks to Munich. Being Australian and a comedian certainly helps, too.
Watching this movie, I wished I was more informed because I think it is too smart for me. I'm also kinda young to appreciate the drama surrounding the 1972 incident. It is not hard to follow or anything, there is just a lot of heavy content that I bet I didn't even pick up on. Nevertheless, I was entertained, educated, and emotionally stirred.
Spielberg. How does he stay so good at his job? He's amazing. I wouldn't call Munich his best film, but it's an important one and I think he is bold to portray a more balanced view of the infamous event. In no way does he defend the Palestinian terrorists, but he aims to show Israel's retaliation and how vengeance is not the answer.
As my first paragraph said, Bana is great. He plays a quiet sort of character, but has no trouble gaining the viewer's sympathy/concern. He conveys so much without even speaking. My other favorite performance comes courtesy of Ciaran Hinds, an actor I've liked for a long time. His character is the most experienced of the Israeli assassin crew, and yet he is the voice of morality. Hinds is great, and I'm thrilled he got a big role like this.
Daniel Craig was good, though I still don't understand what his nationality was - Israeli, I thought, but I swear he still sounded British. I dunno. Mattieu Kossovitz (a great director, despite Gothika) is also good as the team's bomb maker.
The film is three hours long, but I hardly noticed. There were no fatty scenes that needed trimming. I was actually hoping for a little more at the end, but it worked. I'm pleased that Spielberg and the film were nominated for Oscars, but disappointed Bana and Hinds were ignored. Then again, the Academy Awards are political, biased, and all-around worthless. Kudos to the whole Munich gang for a film well-made.
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