Munich

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. (04/02/2022)

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. (14/03/2006)

Steven Spielberg, as a Jew, decided not to film the events that led to the killing of Israeli athletes, but rather the events that followed. Essentially, it is a Jewish revenge on people who had something to do with the terrorist action. And maybe even on people who could have been terrorists. It's a bit strange how the abduction of athletes is portrayed here because at first it seems very vivid, very interesting, but Spielberg cuts it off and presents only mechanical television news that can be viewed in archives or on the internet. Nothing revolutionary, he immediately moves on to what followed. I was a bit disappointed that he dedicated so little space to the assassination because he could have filmed it brilliantly, at least the opening scene hinted at it. But Spielberg chose the path of recording revenge, which is not a bad approach, an effort to express the motivations of the other side, their methods of work, etc. Overall, it was successful, but I still feel like the film is not as raw as it could be, but rather completely stylized, trying to play on emotions, which is due to the event itself, not Spielberg's skill. He tries to push it to the limit, giving the lives of Jews and their suffering. It's not bad, the film is well directed, but the main surprise of the whole film is the fact that Eric Bana can also act. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/10/prach-uspesna-pokracovani-animaku.html (01/03/2013)

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. (06/07/2006)

Munich definitely isn’t controversial (if you’re not a fanatical supporter of either side), it doesn’t say anything new, nor does it dive into the depths of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It just scratches the surface and the characters talk about home. But that doesn’t mean that it is a bad movie. Quite the contrary, and because Spielberg chose (for him) an unusual method of expression (it actually seems that the movie is “controlled" Kaminski’s camera), it’s pretty fascinating. The authors also expect at least some basic knowledge about the topic from the viewer, therefore they don’t explain a lot of the names or acronyms, which is good, since the movie doesn’t treat you like a toddler. (05/02/2006)